tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14428272381746037552016-12-08T21:18:30.648-08:00Life Training Institute BlogPersuasively Communicating the Pro-Life MessageSKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01905606527143286458noreply@blogger.comBlogger953125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-87525908559720411632016-12-07T13:29:00.002-08:002016-12-07T13:30:15.724-08:00A Different Type of Abortion [Clinton Wilcox]A friend shared an article with me from someone named Catherine Deveny about what she calls <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-04/financial-abortion-men-opt-out-parenthood/8049576?WT.tsrc=Facebook_Organic" target="_blank">"financial abortion"</a>, the idea that if a woman can decide she doesn't want to be a parent and opt out through abortion, men should be able to do the same. I didn't know who Deveny is but after doing a little research I discovered that she's an Australian comedian.<br /><br />The idea behind "financial abortion" is that if a man indicates to a woman before they have sex that he does not want to have a child, and the couple uses contraceptives to try and ensure that she doesn't get pregnant, then if the contraceptives fail and the woman winds up pregnant, he has the right to opt out during the early parts of pregnancy. This means he can essentially sign all his rights, responsibilities, and privileges of fatherhood away, cutting all financial and emotional ties with the child. She says a "financial abortion" is also known as a "paper abortion" or "statutory abortion", but this is literally the first I've ever heard of this idea. I'm left to wonder how there can be so many other people who call this idea by other names. It's certainly not an idea that's gained any traction in the abortion literature. Deveny indicates that the idea came from sociologist <a href="https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Op-Eds/Goldscheider.html" target="_blank">Francis K. Goldscheider</a> in 1998. David Boonin, however, has argued that even though (he believes) women have the right to an abortion, it does not follow that a father has the right to opt out of pregnancy since the question of whether or not to have an abortion or whether or not someone should pay child support are two different questions, and a legal obligation to pay child support does not necessarily translate into a moral obligation to pay it (see Boonin, <i>A Defense of Abortion</i>, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 4.11).&nbsp;I may respond to Goldschedier's article in the future, because it rests on very problematic assumptions.<br /><br />As I have heard it said, if you get your philosophy from comedians don't be surprised if it's a joke. Her article is, as one might expect, poorly reasoned. Comedians have never been bastions of critical thinking, from Rosanne Barr's screed that the pro-life movement is just a bunch of old, white men who want to control and enslave women, to Whoopi Golderg's fallacious rant that pro-life people should shut up and adopt all the unwanted children who are conceived and not aborted, to even the late George Carlin's ridiculous diatribe that pro-life people care about the unborn but "you're on your own" once you're born. Comedians are not critical thinkers not just because they have no specific training in logic and philosophy (although I did catch a recent routine by Jerry Seinfeld that impressively incorporated metaphysics), but also because comedy is based on logical fallacies (most commonly, the fallacy of equivocation). Only those who are not skilled in logic would put forth an argument by a comedian as a serious critique of an intellectual position.<br /><br />To be honest, I do, at least, think that Deveny's position is consistent. I agree with her, that if you allow a woman to opt out of parenthood through abortion, then it's inconsistent (in fact, one could say it's sexist) to prevent men from doing the same, opting out of having to pay child support and give up tens of thousands of dollars in raising this child. However, it should be obvious that the fact there is child support is a result of schizophrenic thinking on the part of our country, since it does show that parents (namely, fathers) inherently have responsibilities to their children, even though it seems to indicate that mothers don't have an inherent responsibility to their child because abortion is legal. Additionally, allowing fathers to "financially abort" their child raises a moral hazard because it might actually leave a woman thinking that she can't raise her child alone and make it more likely she'll pursue an abortion. So while it's inconsistent, it might lead to fewer abortions by forbidding a man from "financially aborting" his own child.<br /><br />Deveny starts out by arguing that if a man has not indicated before having sex that he wants to have a baby with the woman, it is fair to assume that he doesn't. Unfortunately, Deveny has it backward here. She's ignorant of basic biology (more on that below), but as sex makes babies, and this has been known from time immemorial, it is quite fair for a woman to assume that if a man has sex with her, and sex makes babies, he wants to have a baby with her. Only by divorcing sex from reproduction can Deveny's argument make sense, but it is logically impossible to separate the two (though it doesn't stop people like Deveny from trying).<br /><br />Aside from her misunderstanding of the causal link between sex and pregnancy, Deveny's article also rests on another misunderstanding that clouds the issue. She says that women need abortion because they need to have the right to decide when to become parents. It is, of course, true that everyone should be able to decide when they want to become parents, but the time to decide is before having sex -- after sex, if the woman becomes pregnant, the man and woman are <i>already</i>&nbsp;parents, and now deciding "when to become parents" means deciding whether or not to kill their children to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.<br /><br />One section of her article caused me to nearly laugh out loud. Following a paragraph in which she talked about the "what ifs" of technology being able to aid in men having "financial abortions," she wrote the following paragraph:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">A topic like this also raises anecdotes about women "lying" about their contraception in order to "trap" men into having babies, and of men who agree to having children then abandoning them. But these "what ifs" muddy the discussion.</blockquote>Did you catch that? Apparently considering "what ifs" are appropriate when it comes to defending her position, but when it comes to having to deal with legitimate possible criticisms, they should be avoided because they only "muddy the discussion". We should just agree with Deveny, no matter how outlandish her position is. This kind of double-think is all too common among abortion-choice advocates (see Joseph Dellapenna's book <i>Dispelling the Myths of Abortion History</i>&nbsp;for more on the topic of "abortion distortion").<br /><br />An argument Deveny uses to bolster her case is that allowing "financial abortion" would be less traumatic and disruptive for the child and more empowering for the woman.<br /><br />Her argument that it would be more empowering for women is that she would have sex with a guy in full knowledge of what his intentions are (despite the fact that she brushed away possible objections that a man could deceive her into having sex with her as "muddying the discussion"). As I've argued time and again, abortion is not empowering for women. In fact, it treats women as less than human because we don't hold her responsible for her actions (i.e. conceiving a child), and it allows men to treat women as sex objects and then get "rid of the consequences" of their sexual exploits. So arguing that this would be empowering for women is completely off the mark (and surprising for someone who considers herself a feminist).<br /><br />Her argument that it would be less traumatic and disruptive for the child is that abandoning the child early in life would "surely" (another "what if") be less traumatic and disruptive to abandon the child early in life than later in life. Disruptive, sure, as the father who abandons the child later in life is abandoning all the child has worked for and done in school, sports, band, etc. But she offers no evidence that it would be less traumatic for a child to be abandoned early in life than later in life. Also, to say something is "less traumatic" is not to say that it is not traumatic at all, so shouldn't it be seen as morally obligatory for a father <i>not</i>&nbsp;to traumatize his child <i>at all</i>?<br /><br />The section after this one contains the most laughably poor reasoning in the entire paper (and that's saying something). She wrote that when she put this idea out on Facebook, the response she received was "surprisingly archaic" (not "progressive"). What is this "archaic" view? The fact that since sex creates babies, whoever engages in sex must take responsibility for the children that result. Of course, anyone who understands biology knows that there is a causal link between sex and pregnancy: The man and woman have sex, this results in the male ejecting his sperm into the woman, the sperm meets the egg in the fallopian tube, an embryo is conceived (as a single-cell zygote), the tube pushes the embryo along with tiny hairs called <i>cilia</i>, and the embryo ends up in the uterus and implants itself there. Why am I having to explain eighth grade biology to a grown woman?<br /><br />Deveny commits not one, but two logical fallacies in this section: First, poisoning the well by dismissing this point of view as "punishing people for pleasure," and two, chronological snobbery, the idea that because this is an "old" idea, it is therefore wrong and we should "move past it". But as Chesterton says, saying that truth is dependent on what year it is no less arbitrary than saying Christianity is true on Monday, Islam is true on Tuesday, and atheism is true on Wednesday. She might as well say "isn't the belief that the earth revolves around the sun an archaic position, and we should move past it?" Sex has not changed in the long history of human interaction. Sex created Pebbles when Fred and Wilma had it, and sex created Deveny when her parents had it. Sex creates children, and engaging in an act that creates children grounds an obligation to care for those children. Deveny doesn't even attempt to give a good argument here, just dismissing people like me as "backward cavemen" (though not in so many words). In this case, Fred and Wilma have the intellectual upper hand.<br /><br />Additionally, it would be nice if every child was wanted and every parent was willing. But unlike Deveny and many abortion-choice advocates who repeat this mantra, I don't believe in killing <i>unwanted</i>&nbsp;people.<br /><br />Her next section is arguing against the "archaic notion" (her words) of men providing for women. I think she's mistaken in this section, but it's not critical to my response to address it.<br /><br />Deveny's following section is regarding whether or not abortion is dangerous to women. She starts off with a logical fallacy, the hasty generalization by pointing to herself as having had an abortion that didn't damage her, so abortion is not inherently dangerous. Aside from being fallacious, there are many documented cases of abortion being dangerous for women. Of course, she doesn't back up any of her claims so we should take them with a grain of salt. However, her section here does highlight the danger of focusing on abortion's effect on women as a pro-life argument (rather than just something to bolster the idea that there is something wrong with abortion). All the abortion-choice crowd has to do is produce women who haven't been damaged or emotional scarred by women and you lose the whole impact of your argument. At any rate, it's not critical for me to support the idea that abortion harms women, because I believe we need to stay focused on the real reason abortion is immoral -- it intentionally and directly kills an innocent human being.<br /><br />Of course, Deveny continues harping on the idea that a woman can choose what she wants to do: abort, adopt, joint parent, or sole parent. This shows that she, like many abortion-choice advocates, is not focused on what's best for the child (for let's face it, abortion is never best for the child). The only equation Deveny cares about is who is going to parent, not about what the best situation is for the child to be raised. The best thing for children is to be raised by both parents in a low-conflict environment. If Deveny cared about children, sole parenting wouldn't be in her equation as to how a woman might choose to parent (and that's, of course, ignoring that abortion should never be on your mind if you care about what's best for the child).<br /><br />Deveny ends her piece by saying that her life is much different than women who have come before because she had the "freedom" to decide when to become a mother. Of course, that is true -- but as should be blatantly obvious, "different" does not equate to "better". Society is worse off because they are killing innocent human children, and women who support this idea are not only supporting a cause that goes against their very nature, but also a cause that gives men more freedom to treat them as sex objects. This is unbecoming a feminist, and it's unbecoming a human being.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-47820570549543471192016-12-02T12:29:00.003-08:002016-12-02T12:29:42.480-08:00An Analysis of Arrival (from a pro-life perspective) [Clinton Wilcox]I recently saw the movie Arrival in my local theater. Some have been touting this movie as a pro-life movie, and one of the protagonists, Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams), as a pro-life ion. I'll be examining this movie from a pro-life perspective, but for an excellent analysis of the themes in the movie, check out this review from <a href="https://jwwartick.com/2016/11/14/arrival-film/" target="_blank">J.W. Wartick</a>.<br /><br />Obviously there will be spoilers in this review, since I'm going to be analyzing it. So if you haven't seen the movie and don't want it spoiled, go and see it before you read this review. It's an excellent film, well worth your money.<br /><br />Arrival is a film about a group of alien spacecrafts that reach earth and hover over various locations around the globe, such as the United States, China, and Russia. Nothing is known about the aliens, so the United States brings in a linguist, Banks, and a physicist, Ian Donnelly (played by Jeremy Renner), to see if they can learn how to communicate with the aliens. Banks eventually starts to learn their language (as well as linguists from the other powers which have their own alien spacecraft), but human paranoia starts to take over and the temporary alliance between these powers as they study the aliens starts to fracture. It becomes a race against time to understand the aliens' language well enough to learn why they are here.<br /><br />Arrival actually snuck up on me. I hadn't heard about it until my friends were already going to see it in the theaters. I hadn't seen any trailers for it and hadn't heard any talk about it. So while this was a surprise for me, it was a very pleasant ones. Considering how many classic films there are in the science fiction genre, especially those in which humans discover they are no longer alone in the universe (e.g. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Contact, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek: First Contact, and numerous others), it doesn't seem to me that first contact films have much of a punch anymore. I'm not even sure it will come as much of a shock to anyone if we one day do discover there are other forms of intelligent alien life because the oversaturation of these films will have probably prepared us for such an event. However, what set Arrival apart from these other films was that it really focused on the communication aspect of it and the challenges we would face if we did encounter an alien race. So like much excellent science fiction, the "science fiction" stuff was a backdrop to make a larger point. We don't just get a good science fiction story, we get a story that outlines the philosophy of language, and how it is that language helps us to communicate with others. Banks, a linguist, used her knowledge of linguistics to help humanity communicate. A physicist, Donnelly, was also there, but he was useless. It was Banks' show. (Though it was admittedly disconcerting to hear Hawkeye drop an "f" bomb).<br /><br />Arrival is not a perfect movie. It leads to an unbelievable climax, that mastering the aliens' language can manipulate how you perceive the passage of time. Speaking of perception of time, the aliens are a race that don't perceive time linearly, as we do. Since Banks is learning their language, she begins to perceive time differently than we do, and as the movie progresses we discover that what we thought were flashbacks were actually flash-forwards, and we are seeing events from the future that have yet to unfold. An interesting concept, but as much science fiction does (especially as regards time travel), it takes many liberties with it and even ends up being unrealistic in its execution. A glaring example of this is when Banks needs to contact a Chinese representative to give him some crucial information, but she doesn't have his phone number. She gets his phone number because he reveals it to her at a future event in which they are celebrating their new worldwide peace brought on by a gift given to them by the aliens. But of course, if she had never had his phone number this event would never have taken place (since she would not have been able to contact him), and she would not have been able to get his number in the future. This really felt more like a cheap cop-out to progress the story rather than any sort of insightful comment about the non-linearity of time.<br /><br />This brings us to the alleged pro-life theme in this movie. Essentially, we learn that Banks' daughter, Hannah, had a rare form of cancer that took her life at a young age. These scenes of Banks' home life are interspersed throughout the present events of the movie. We later learn that this condition was discovered while Hannah was in the womb. Banks' boyfriend/husband (it's not made clear if they were married) wanted to abort Hannah but Banks chose to give her life. This resulted in her boyfriend/husband leaving her to raise Hannah alone. We later discover that these scenes were not flashbacks, but flash<i>forwards</i>, due to the alien language allowing Banks to perceive time differently. So these events have not happened yet. We also learn that Donnelly is the father of Hannah, apparently becoming attracted to Banks through working with her, and this is Hollywood, who haven't quite learned that men and women can work together without hooking up. Since these are flashforwards, and Banks and Donnelly have yet to conceive Hannah, this leaves Banks with a choice: does she still pursue a relationship with Donnelly, thereby causing the events that would conceive Hannah only to watch her die, or avoid a relationship and avoid conceiving Hannah, a girl with a short life span. She eventually decides to let the events play out as she saw them, getting together with Donnelly, since she reasoned that a short time with Hannah is better than no time at all.<br /><br />I'm always hesitant to try and see pro-life themes in a film or television show, unless I know for sure what the political leaning is of the writer(s) and/or the producer(s) (e.g. see my pro-life analysis of an episode of <a href="http://lti-blog.blogspot.com/2014/10/pro-life-themes-in-doctor-who.html" target="_blank">Doctor Who</a>). This is no different here. I don't know anything about the people behind this film, so my default position on this is to not read too much into what may seem to be a pro-life message (one conservative commentator called Arrival the most pro-life science fiction ever made, even if it was unintentional -- a claim I would disagree with, partially for the reasons outlined below). In fact, broadly speaking, science fiction in general can be seen as pro-life, since many science fiction stories revolve around trying to broaden our conception of what counts as persons, and shows like Star Trek have tackled the question of pregnancies in difficult circumstances and seem to say that giving life to the unborn child is preferable). But that doesn't mean that just because they have loose pro-life themes that they are pro-life as we are, i.e. anti-abortion.<br /><br />My contention is that given the information we received in the film, I don't think we're justified in calling Banks a "pro-life heroine" (as I've seen from some on social media). I first need to point out that what Banks did wasn't heroic -- giving her child life is not the heroic thing to do, it is the morally obligatory thing to do. She is not a hero because she refused to kill her child who had a fatal illness. She did what any parent is obligated to do. So she's not a hero in that respect. Additionally, we can't say for sure that she's pro-life. All we know is that she chose to have her child in a difficult circumstance. Assuming that she must be pro-life because she chose to keep her child, and calling this a pro-life film, is to tacitly imply that a pro-abortion-choice person wouldn't do that.<br /><br />In fact, Donnelly, the guy who left Louise and Hannah when Louise decided to keep her, was a likeable character in the film. After he leaves them, Louise still takes great pains to tell Hannah that he's a good man. So it didn't seem like, to me, the movie believed he actually did anything wrong, like it was her choice to have the child and his choice to leave, and both were perfectly fine choices.<br /><br />Finally, given the time aspect in the film, that raises other questions. First of all, we see that Banks decided to conceive and have her child because of all the wonder and love Hannah brought to her life. But what if Hannah didn't become a dancer, or any of the other things we saw in the flash-forward scenes? What if she, in fact, was confined to a bed for her entire life, or something like that? Would Louise, then, have chosen to conceive her child? In fact, while pro-abortion-choice people erroneously refer to an unborn child as a "potential" person, in the case of Hannah, she really was a potential person in that sense of the word. So really, unless we hold to a B-theory of time (the theory of time that states that all points in time are equally "real" and time passing is just an illusion), Hannah didn't yet exist. If we *do* hold to a B-theory of time, then Hannah already exists and none of the choices Louise made would matter (so all we have to look at is her intent, and in that case her intent would have been determined, so she didn't make a conscious choice). However, if we're talking about the A-theory of time (the theory that states that the past no longer exists and the future doesn't yet exist), then since Hannah didn't yet exist, would it have been wrong to prevent Hannah from coming into existence? At the very least, this doesn't seem nearly as wrong as killing her after she comes into existence. So in this case, we need to have a discussion of whether or not we have any sorts of obligations to future persons, and that's an issue that I haven't looked into too closely. My instinct is that we don't have obligations to future persons, but I don't have a firm opinion on that yet.<br /><br />At any rate, those are my thoughts on it. What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think in the comments below.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-73191752262902126532016-11-11T15:28:00.002-08:002016-11-11T17:35:55.650-08:00Response to Joshua Stein's critique of Christopher Kaczor [Clinton Wilcox]If you haven't yet read <i>The Ethics of Abortion </i>by Christopher Kaczor, you should definitely consider reading it. However, I was asked to give my thoughts on a critical review written by Joshua Stein about Kaczor's book. Ordinarily, reading over this review, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. It doesn't present any serious challenges to Kaczor's book, and he mainly complains about the methodology of the book rather than actually responding to any of Kaczor's arguments. But since I was asked, I'll respond to Stein's claims below.<br /><br />I've interacted with Stein some on Facebook. From what I've gathered, he's a philosophy professor but to my knowledge, hasn't done any work in the field of philosophy, itself. Other than that I don't know much about him, but you can read his critique on Goodreads <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/809967826" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />The first thing I noticed is Stein's complete lack of engagement with Kaczor's book. He doesn't provide any page numbers so you can see if he's correctly understanding Kaczor's arguments, and he doesn't even seriously engage with any of them. Compare Stein's critique with one of my critical critiques on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/review/R2QBZ1Q8HW4O0Z/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&amp;ASIN=0882143522&amp;channel=detail-glance&amp;nodeID=283155&amp;store=books" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.<br /><br />Stein begins his critique by stating that Kaczor's book is not "good" or "interesting", whereas his own views are based on "good" and "interesting" philosophy. Of course, this is mistaken, as while many pro-choice thinkers are careful thinkers, the philosophy that undergirds the pro-abortion-choice position is not good (and Stein doesn't begin to tell us what he means by "interesting"). The pro-abortion-choice position is grounded in ideas that are highly counterintuitive and easily refutable. If you come at the pro-choice position from a position of bodily rights, the only way this succeeds is if (as Thomson argues) parents have no natural obligations to their offspring. This is clearly absurd. If you arrive at your pro-choice views from a position of functionalism (i.e. the unborn must be able to perform some function before it is considered a person), then your argument is grounded in the same idea that led to human atrocities like the Holocaust and chattel slavery. You are grounding human value in arbitrary criteria to justify being able to kill them.<br /><br />So what are the alleged problems with Kaczor's book that leads to Stein dismissing it as "not...a very good piece of professional philosophy"? He gives us four major reasons.<br /><br />1) Stein's first point is Kaczor's Aristotelian assumptions. Now, Stein says that Kaczor's assumptions insert themselves in weird ways into the discussion. Then he tells us that it's perfectly fine to do this in professional philosophy, given that you acknowledge these biases. Then he tells us that Kaczor does this! So Stein's point here is really a non-argument. He's just complaining about Aristotelianism and offers no reason why we should reject it. As someone who also holds to Aristotelianism, Stein's argument from incredulity is not a serious charge against Kaczor's book.<br /><br />2) Stein's next complaint is that Kaczor switches methods throughout the book. However, he gives us no examples of this. He says there's nothing incoherent in doing this, but he personally finds it annoying. So again, this is a non-argument. He's just complaining about the changing methodology in Kaczor's book while not giving us any examples to make his case. Even if Kaczor does do this, a likely reason is since Kaczor is responding to numerous pro-abortion-choice arguments from a number of different pro-choice thinkers (and not all of them philosophers), Kaczor needs different methods to respond to them because the arguments he is responding to do not all come from the same methodological procedure.<br /><br />3) Next, Stein says that Kaczor's case is philosophically weak but, again, he provides no evidence of this. He simply says that Kaczor's case isn't sufficiently developed to give a rigorous criticism to. This is clearly false. In the acknowledgements, Kaczor thanks none other than Peter Singer, Jeff McMahan, Michael Tooley, and David Boonin for looking over his manuscript. In fact, Kaczor writes, <i>"David Boonin...also deserves special recognition and gratitude. David read through the entire manuscript twice, the second time providing me with 23 single-spaced pages of comments, questions, objections, and challenges. I am especially indebted to him for this great service."</i>&nbsp;(Christopher Kaczor, <i>The Ethics of Abortion, 2nd ed.</i>, Routledge, New York, NY, 2015.)&nbsp;(This is the first time I've ever actually quoted the acknowledgements section from a book.) Considering the caliber of pro-choice thinkers who were reviewing the manuscript and providing helpful comments, I think it much more likely that Stein either did not understand the case Kaczor made, or he did not care enough to give the book a fair read.<br /><br />Stein asserts that Kaczor "basically draws the assumption that [his positive case for development at conception based on the concept of identity] is most plausible based on the failure of psychological theories of identity." This, of course, leads me to wonder if Stein actually read the book, since Kaczor has an entire chapter titled "Does Personhood Begin at Conception?" and defends what he calls the Endowment view. Kaczor writes, <i>"The endowment account holds that each human being has inherent, moral worth simply by virtue of the kind of being it is."</i>&nbsp;(See chapter six in Kaczor's book.) He then spends the rest of the chapter comparing the endowment view with the performance view of personhood (what I referred to as functionalism, above). Stein is simply being unfair to Kaczor in his critique of Kaczor's book. If his critique is that Kaczor didn't spend enough time defending the endowment view, he can certainly look elsewhere for a fuller treatment of the issue (e.g. Ed Feser's <i>Scholastic Metaphysics</i>&nbsp;or David Oderberg's <i>Real Essentialism</i>).<br /><br />4) Finally, Stein asserts that Kaczor does not have a sufficient or proficient enough grasp on the positions of his pro-choice interlocutors to be able to comment on them. He asserts that the cases of pro-choice thinkers are not presented passably. He specifically mentions Mary Anne Warren and Peter Singer. But considering I already mentioned that Singer read Kaczor's manuscript, this objection is just silly. If Kaczor didn't understand Singer's arguments, Singer certainly would have set him straight on the arguments. Saying that Kaczor didn't have a good enough grasp on Singer's arguments when Singer reviewed the manuscript is just a lack of awareness of what he, himself, is trying to critique. Considering all the other pro-choice thinkers who also reviewed the manuscript, I think Stein is the one who needs further education on these arguments.<br /><br />In fact, David Boonin, who I mentioned above, had this to say about Kaczor's book (from the back flap): <i>"This is one of the very best book-length defenses of the claim that abortion is morally impermissible. It is clear, thorough, thoughtful and carefully argued. I would strongly encourage anyone who is interested in the subject to read it and study it."</i>&nbsp;David Boonin teaches ethics at University of Colorado, Boulder, and does do work in philosophy (specifically the abortion issue; Boonin's book on abortion, <i>A Defense of Abortion</i>, is a book I encourage anyone wanting to educate themselves on pro-choice arguments to read). Boonin would not encourage anyone to read and study this book if he did not have confidence in it. Considering the high praise Boonin has for the book, I would take his word over Stein's regarding the usefulness of it.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-37384149923453923952016-10-26T15:21:00.000-07:002016-10-26T15:21:32.583-07:00Amanda Marcotte is At it Again [Clinton Wilcox]And by "it", I mean completely frothing off at the mouth about the "evil" "misogynistic" "anti-choice" movement. Ruth Graham over at Slate wrote a surprisingly well-balanced article about the more alternative pro-life advocates, such as Kelsey Hazzard (of <a href="http://www.secularprolife.org/" target="_blank">Secular Pro-Life</a>) and Aimee Murphy (of <a href="http://www.lifemattersjournal.org/" target="_blank">Life Matters Journal</a>). Her article is called <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/cover_story/2016/10/the_future_of_the_pro_life_movement.html" target="_blank">The New Culture of Life</a>. This article also led the United States Library of Congress to contact various organizations mentioned in the piece, like Life Matters Journal and <a href="http://www.newwavefeminists.com/" target="_blank">New Wave Feminists</a>, informing them they've selected these organizations' webpages for inclusion in the Library's web archive focusing on public policy topics. Seriously, give it a read (note that I don't necessarily agree with all the statements made by the pro-life activists in that article).<br /><br />True to form, Amanda Marcotte of Salon is not happy that someone would present pro-life people in a positive light, preferring to live in her fantasy world that pro-life people are all stodgy old men who want to control women's bodies. So she wrote a hit piece about the pro-life movement in response to Graham's article, called <a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/10/13/hip-to-be-square-is-there-really-a-feminist-secular-anti-choice-movement-spoiler-no/" target="_blank">Hip to be Square: Is there really a feminist, secular anti-choice movement? (Spoiler: no)</a>. Clever, right? Not only is it a completely dishonest article, devoid of any serious research, it is also borderline libelous. Seriously, don't give it a read.<br /><br />Marcotte's piece truly is painful to read. Not only is she completely dishonest about pro-life people, her lack of serious research is astounding. A number of pro-life people were mentioned in her article, including me. I'm going to set the record straight on Marcotte's claims about myself (and Rebecca Stapleford, who was mentioned along with me). I'll leave it to my friends to respond to Marcotte if they so choose.<br /><br />Below, I'll quote the two paragraphs in Marcotte's article that directly relate to me:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">As [Matt] Dillahunty pointed out to me, a "good chunk of [Secular Pro-Life's] blog posts are written by Christians/Catholics", showcasing exactly how difficult it is to drum up much interest among the non-religious for a cause devoted to meddling with other people's sex lives. A perusal of the Secular Pro-Life blog seemed to confirm this observation, with several blog posts being written by Catholics like Rebecca Stapleford and Clinton Wilcox.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Wilcox is one of the two Secular Pro-Life representatives that Dillahunty has debated. On his personal blog, Wilcox argues, "I, myself, have met people who said they did not come to Christ until after they became pro-life" and writes that anti-choice arguments are a good way to lure people into converting to Christianity.</blockquote>There are at least a half dozen inaccuracies in just these two paragraphs, alone. Let's start with the fact that neither I nor Rebecca Stapleford are Catholics. I am Protestant. Rebecca is also a friend of mine. While she became pro-life as an agnostic, she is now an Evangelical Protestant.<br /><br />Now let's talk about how she "perused" (does she even know what this word means?) the blog at Secular Pro-Life, found "several" articles by Rebecca and me, and apparently that was enough to conclude that a "good chunk" of SPL's blog posts were written by "Catholics". First, how much is a "good chunk"? If he means a lot, then sure. But what does this prove? It certainly doesn't prove that the majority have been written by religious people. In fact, most of the writers for SPL are non-religious. Instead of looking up how many articles Rebecca and I wrote, maybe she should have looked at who the writers are and compare their religious affiliation.<br /><br />Now let's talk about her calling me a "representative" of SPL. I am not now, nor have I ever been, a representative of Secular Pro-Life. I do write articles for their blog and I walk with them whenever I attend the Walk for Life, but I am not a representative of their organization. Marcotte is confusing their willingness to work with religious people as their actually being religious.<br /><br />I also made it very clear to Dillahunty before we debated that I am not a representative of SPL; I write for their blog and was interested in debating him. At no point did I claim to represent SPL. Whether Dillahunty told Marcotte this or Marcotte is assuming it is unclear. Either way, someone is being dishonest here.<br /><br />Two more inaccuracies to note. She points to an article I wrote on my "personal blog", but the blog she pointed to was the Life Training Institute blog, not my personal blog. Additionally, she claims that I am deceiving people into becoming Christian by first making them pro-life. This, of course, is blatantly false. She is taking my words out of context and paraphrasing them to mean something I obviously didn't mean to any honest observer who reads my article. What I actually said is that my discussions on abortion naturally lead into questions of ultimate reality and human value, and that while sometimes you can convert an atheist to Christianity without talking about the pro-life issue, sometimes atheists need to know that we have reasonable answers to other issues before they take Christianity seriously.<br /><br />Salon has never been a paragon of critical thinking, but it's truly mind-boggling that they would allow such a deceitful piece to be posted to their website. In just two paragraphs, Marcotte bungled many facts that would have been easy to verify. She also seems intent on painting the pro-life movement as inherently religious, but I wasn't aware the proposition "murdering a human being is wrong" is an inherently religious one. At least we can take comfort in knowing that they can't refute our argument that abortion is wrong because it intentionally kills an innocent human being, so they have to resort to name-calling and alarmist caterwauling.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-78870554585997950512016-10-20T10:51:00.000-07:002016-10-20T10:52:41.746-07:00Q&A: What Do You Say to the "Keep Your Religion to Yourself!" Objection? (Jay Watts)<div class="MsoNormal">This past weekend I was speaking to a group at Northwestern University from Students for Life of Illinois as part of that organization’s annual summit. I made the case for life appealing to the three-step strategy that I generally outline:<o:p></o:p><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Simplify the issue by focusing on the single most important question concerning the right or wrong of abortion, what are the unborn?</span><br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Argue our case using science and philosophy. The science of embryology tells us that from the moment of fertilization the unborn are a whole, distinct, and living human organism. Philosophy tells us that there is no essential difference from the embryo or fetus that we once were and the more mature human we are today. Differences of size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependence do not do sufficient philosophical work to explain why it was ok to kill us then, indeed it was a Constitutionally protected right, but that if someone did the same thing to us at this stage in our life it would be the worst moral offense one human being could commit against another human being.</span><br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Argue well, in a way that aims to win people with good arguments and not merely to beat people down with information.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">During Q&amp;A, a young woman asked the following question: What do you do when someone says this all just your religious view and shouldn’t be pushed onto others that do not share your religion?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><b>My answer:</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">As I understand that objection, it claims that the belief that all human beings share a common intrinsic dignity by virtue of what we and are owed basic duties and obligations, not the least of which is to refrain from killing them, is by its nature a religious argument. My response has three parts.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">First, it isn’t clear that this is true. None of the arguments that I provided are religious by nature. There are atheists that would reject the suggestion that objective moral values require a theistic worldview. Sam Harris appeals to objective morality when he condemns the practice of female genital mutilation in certain Muslim cultures. He isn’t arguing that those cultures violate a western cultural norm, but that the practice itself is objectively wrong for all cultures. Atheists like Sam Harris and Michael Martin have worked hard to ground objective moral values in a non-theistic worldview precisely because they acknowledge the existence of those values. Whether I believe that they can succeed in doing so is irrelevant to this point. It can be accepted that an appeal to objective morality is not religious by its nature.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">This leads me to my second point; I never mentioned my faith or personal beliefs as part of my argument. It is true that I am passionately and unapologetically Christian and that my faith informs every area of my life. So what? I never said abortion is wrong because God said so. People objecting to our case need to address the science and philosophy, not my faith. This argument commits either the Genetic Fallacy (the pro-life argument was birthed out of religious communities) or amounts to a plain old Ad Hominem attack (Jay is religious therefore he is wrong). Objectors have a responsibility to interact with the arguments presented regardless of who is presenting them or what motivation I may have for putting forth the arguments. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Dr. Condic presented the case for the identification of early human life as a new independent organism from fertilization. (Maureen Condic was also at this event. See her article <a href="http://ir.stthomas.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&amp;context=ustjlpp">here</a>). I presented the philosophical case that the best explanation of our experience of a shared universal human dignity that transcends cultures and subjective interests is that our dignity and value are grounded in our humanity. Replying with, “Yeah, but religion..” hardly addresses either of those arguments. Put them back on the hot seat and make them answer the question, “What are the unborn?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Finally, why do they get to decide without argument what considerations are allowed into the marketplace of ideas? Who empowered them to declare that secular humanist reasons and materialistic naturalistic reasons can be publically advocated, but so-called religious reasons cannot? I have the right to advocate for my beliefs and try to convince others that my views offer the best explanations and solutions to the questions we experience in our world. If they want to argue that their worldview is superior then they need to make that case, but they don’t have the right to make it in a vacuum where other competing worldviews have been shut out of consideration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">In truth, they are inconsistent in their objection to religious reasons informing advocacy. Where is the handwringing when Bono dedicates his considerable influence to acquiring help for people in Africa suffering from Aids and poverty? He clearly states that his desire to help is born out of his Christian faith, and yet he is applauded for those efforts. When HBO’s documentary program VICE ran a story about George W. Bush committing U.S. aid to help Bono establish programs that transformed the manner that some African countries fought Aids, no one cried foul when Bush stated his and Bono’s shared Christian values were his motivation for action. It is only when we stand up against one of the sacred pets of the progressive culture like abortion that they suddenly demand a litmus test for having a public voice on issues. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">In a nutshell, I will talk about what I want, when I want, wherever I want, and they better come with more than “Shut up because you are religious!” if they wish to stop me. 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UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><i><b>(Note: This is the answer as I gave it. It was heavily informed and influenced by the works of Hadley Arkes, Robert George, Greg Koukl, and Scott Klusendorf. All credit where credit is due.)</b></i><o:p></o:p></div>Jay Wattshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11298001988620531769noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-52025162563956390182016-10-07T08:00:00.000-07:002016-10-07T08:00:28.714-07:00Baby On Board [Clinton Wilcox]I've spent the last week in England and will be returning to California tomorrow. It's been a wonderful week but I'll be happy to finally be going home. I will look forward to returning next year. The three articles I wrote this week were written in England (the first one in Battle East Sussex, the second and third in London).<br /><br />As I was riding in the tube to get to a destination, I saw a pregnant woman wearing a button that said "baby on board". It's a rear windshield placard I used to see around here in California, but this one had the official logo of the Underground tube on it. The button was officially made by the Underground tube in a country in which abortion is legal up until 24 weeks.<br /><br />This kind of thing underscores the extreme inconsistency in our cultures. In the United States, in some states if you murder a pregnant woman, you'll be tried for two murders, as in the case of Scott and Lacy Peterson. Yet if the mother allows the child to be killed, it is no longer murder but abortion. Wantedness or unwantedness should not determine one's moral status, yet in many countries, that is exactly the situation we have.<br /><br />Whether or not a person is wanted is a completely arbitrary consideration for human value. There are many people who are not valued, yet it would still be wrong to kill them (e.g. homeless people are generally seen as drains on society, but we cannot kill them). These kinds of laws just underscore how dangerous it is to live in the womb in our societies. No society is safe unless that society grounds human value in the nature of the human being, not in some arbitrary property possessed by that individual.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-44697293715530533722016-10-05T02:00:00.000-07:002016-10-05T13:10:50.950-07:00Is Making Abortion Illegal Legislating a Religious Viewpoint? [Clinton Wilcox]The pro-life position entails that since unborn human beings are full human persons at fertilization, if you kill an unborn human being at any point in his/her development, you are committing an act of unjustified homicide which should be forbidden by law. Of course, many pro-choice people believe, not having actually listened very closely to the pro-life argument, that the pro-life view is grounded only in a religious belief. So they respond that we cannot legislate a religious point of view into law.<br /><br />Of course, they are correct. But what they miss is that we are not trying to force people to become Christians, or worship Yahweh, or pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day. If the pro-life argument is correct, that human beings are full human persons from fertilization, then the law of the land can reflect that. As I've heard LTI's president Scott Klusendorf mention in a debate against Malcolm Potts, the law does not have to take a position on the soul to make murder illegal. If the unborn are full human persons as adults are full human persons, then the law is justified in making abortion illegal, just like it makes infanticide illegal, and just like it makes murder of older people illegal.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Consider a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram" target="_blank">Venn diagram</a>&nbsp;with two circles that intersect (hopefully my mathematical friends will be proud of me). In the left circle is the set "God's laws," a</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">nd in the right circle is the set "humanity's laws." In the middle is the intersection between the two. We are not trying to legislate something that is merely God's law into the law of the land (again, we are not trying to make people follow Christian rituals or worship Yahweh). We are legislating one of God's laws into the law of the land, both of which intersect. Murder, rape, and theft also oppose God's laws, but they are laws that we should also institute into the laws of the land. Abortion is no different, as it is the intentional killing of an innocent human person.</span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The pro-life position naturally entails that abortion should be illegal. If the pro-life position is correct, then our government has no moral choice but to make the act illegal.</span></span>Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-53992680355563587692016-10-03T01:00:00.000-07:002016-10-03T01:00:02.262-07:00Must We Convert the Culture to Christianity to End Abortion?It seems every so often I run across someone on Facebook (rarely in personal activism) who asserts that we must convert people to Christianity in order to end abortion, or that we must share the Gospel at all times with people, whether or not we make pro-life converts. To do anything less goes against God's teachings.<br /><br />This may sound super spiritual on the face of it, until you stop and consider that, as Augustine said, "wherever truth may be found, it belongs to his master" (<i>On Christian Doctrine</i>, II.18.28). Or as it is commonly paraphrased, all truth is God's truth. Whenever we share the truth about abortion, that it is the unjustified killing of an innocent human person, we are sharing God's truth. Now, it's possible that someone would only be converted after you share the Gospel with them and they come to understand the universe as God does. But it's also very likely that someone will not take the Gospel seriously until they hear a Christian give a reasoned defense of one of their positions in another sphere of knowledge.<br /><br />I, myself, have met people who said they did not come to Christ until after they became pro-life. In fact, this is true of Bernard Nathanson, an atheist physician who founded NARAL. He became pro-life while still an atheist, then converted to Catholicism later in life.<br /><br />I have been attending the Clarkson Academy in Battle East Sussex, England. At this conference Michael Sherrard gave a presentation. He is the pastor of a church, and one of the members of his church asked a friend from college if he'd like to attend church with her one Sunday morning. The parishoner's friend was an atheist who agreed to go to church with her because it was important to her. While there, Mike gave a presentation on the pro-life position. The friend was highly impressed with Mike's rational defense of the pro-life position, so the rest of the time the parishoner had with the friend while the friend was in town, he spent time asking important questions about Christianity. His parishoner's friend's interest in Christianity was only piqued because he heard Mike give a reasoned defense of the pro-life position.<br /><br />The cold reality is that if we want abortion to end, but we think we have to always share the Gospel in order to do it, we're going to turn many people off. We'll never end abortion that way. Scott Klusendorf, in another presentation, reminded us that even the Bible says this: narrow is the way and there are few who find it. We could never possibly hope to end abortion if our only goal is to share the Gospel. If we really want to save babies, we have to be intentional about when we give a reasoned defense of the pro-life position, and when we share the Gospel. Many of my conversations on abortion naturally lead into discussions of ultimate reality, where morality comes from, and so on. But if that was my only goal, I'd never see an end to abortion.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-85834322981454445572016-10-03T00:01:00.000-07:002016-10-03T10:45:40.797-07:00Book Review: The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution by Jenna Ellis [Aaron Brake]<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> 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5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3iaYCqy9IFM/V_Gh5nJ089I/AAAAAAAAAB0/koEtWu9PQ_0wJZZryDihL_EPzaEgNNNMACLcB/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3iaYCqy9IFM/V_Gh5nJ089I/AAAAAAAAAB0/koEtWu9PQ_0wJZZryDihL_EPzaEgNNNMACLcB/s200/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">It has been over one year since the Supreme Court ruled on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Obergefell v. Hodges</i>, a decision which granted legal recognition and moral validation to same-sex “marriage” in the United States. While this decision was just one of many abuses fueled by the judicial activism of nine unelected judges, it was also a culmination of sorts in our culture’s ever-increasing slide into secular humanism over the last several decades. Many Christians marvel at how we have come to such a place in a nation originally founded on objective moral and biblical principles. More importantly, they wonder if there is still a way back. Enter Jenna Ellis and her book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution</i>.</span> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ellis is an attorney, professor, and legal analyst who uses her expertise in these areas to make a persuasive historical and legal case that grounds the authority of our nation’s Founding Documents in Divine Law, i.e., the discoverable, objective, unchanging law of God that includes both science and morality. As she explains, proper constitutional interpretation will be based on reading the U.S. Constitution in context, interpreting and applying the text correctly, while taking into account the original intent of the Founding Fathers. This of course assumes an objective, fixed meaning to the text, a belief many secular humanists want to replace with the idea of a fluid, changing Constitutional document possessing no authority higher than man himself. In so doing, secular humanists undermine their own position by ridding themselves of any adequate grounding for objective meaning and value judgments, the very things they seemingly wish to celebrate after the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Obergefell</i>decision. With no universal authority from God, all <span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">that is l<span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">eft</span></span> is man-made government, and what the government giveth the government can taketh away. Secular humanists cannot have their cake and eat it too. This is why our Founding Fathers appealed to Divine Law in securing our inalienable rights, not a social contract. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">If that’s the case, does this mean Christians should argue for a moral constitution based solely on the “personal faith” of the Founders? As Ellis convincingly argues, that would be a mistake. What we need is an objective, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">legal</i> basis and attempting to establish Constitutional intent on personal beliefs does not get to the most important interpretative question when determining meaning: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What does the text say</i>? Unfortunately, this question has taken a back seat in recent decades due to judicial activism and the misapplication of judicial review (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marbury v. Madison</i>), whereby the Supreme Court has usurped power and effectively elevated itself beyond its originally intended authority and scope into the unchecked, final arbitrator regarding the interpretation, application, and constitutionality of laws. With doctrines like judicial review governing our country, appealing to the “personal faith” of the Founders simply will not win the debate. We need to get back to the authoritative basis and correct interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, and this begins by recognizing “that nearly all of the most prominent and influential Founders were <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lawyers</i></b>.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a name='more'></a><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Why is this important? Recognizing the Founders as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lawyers</i> is a hermeneutical key that allows us to correctly interpret the Constitution as well as recognize its legitimate source of authority. The Founding Documents of our nation (including the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution) are not just significant works of history or abstract philosophical reflections with no legal authority. Ellis makes a historical and contextual case that they are controlling <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">legal</i> documents, with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">legal</i>authority, written by lawyers using specific <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">legal</i> language (referred to as “terms of art”) who sought to preserve the originally intended, objective meaning of the text for future generations to correctly interpret and apply. But if this is true, it means the U.S. Supreme Court is not at liberty “to depart from the legal authority and plain meaning of the U.S Constitution, but is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">under</i></b> its authority.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> By the same token, the U.S. Constitution “is not free to depart from its legal authority, and any interpretation in contradiction to its authority is necessarily invalid.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> This then raises the question, where does the U.S. Constitution derive <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">its</i> authority? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">This question of Constitutional authority becomes central to the correct interpretation of Constitutional Law. Ellis argues that contrary to the claims of secular humanists, the Founders did not establish the authority of the U.S. Constitution in a social contract theory whereby man is free to create, enforce, and change morality and the law in accordance with the will and consent of the majority. This will always result in a “might makes right” philosophy enforced by an all-powerful government Sovereign. Rather the Founders rooted our Constitution in Divine Law which encompasses a universal, objective, discoverable morality that is grounded in the nature and character of God Himself. This means that the human government our Founders put in place will necessarily be limited, having no rightful authority to legislate against or contradict the Moral Law, and that any constitutional interpretation or statutory law that does so is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">necessarily</i> illegitimate. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Nevertheless, don’t take Ellis’ word for it. Read what the Founders themselves wrote in the Founding Documents. Here they explicitly express their rationale and appeal to the only legitimate authority possible: God Himself. For example, the Declaration of Independence specifically refers to Divine Law as its foundational, legitimate authority in announcing the independent political sovereignty of the United States. The Founders appeal to that “which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them” and state unequivocally, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> No mention of a “social contract” here. The purpose of government then is to secure these unalienable Rights that God has given each person. Ellis further unpacks the idea that the Founding Documents form a purposeful hierarchy, establishing the historical and legal context for correct interpretation as we employ proper hermeneutics. Divine Law is the authority which the Declaration appeals to in order to legitimize U.S. secession and which the other Founding Documents ultimately rest on. The Federalist Papers offer the rationale for the U.S. Constitution, the Constitution acting as the supreme law of the land. Common objections voiced by secular humanists such as “separation of church and state” and “you can’t legislate morality” are anticipated and answered by Ellis, all of which fail to recognize the Founders’ original intent and the fact that law and morality are inextricably intertwined. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">In chapters nine and ten Ellis provides an excellent tour of history documenting our cultural shift away from Divine Law and toward Social Contract Theory. She examines case decisions over the last 70 years which have been instrumental in the Supreme Court’s usurpation of power through judicial activism, the abuse of judicial review, proof-texting, and eisegesis. The Court has even created new facets <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ex nihilo </i>such as the “penumbra” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Griswold v. Conneticut</i>) which literally allows unaccountable judges to read between the lines of our Constitution anything they so desire, and then insert their own value judgments. But Ellis does not simply wax eloquent on the history, legality, and current constitutional and cultural crisis. She also gives us a way forward out of the mess: a Convention of States. And guess what? It’s Constitutional and was put in place by our Founders for such a time as this. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Article V of the Constitution allows a Convention of States to be called if two-thirds of the states submit an application to convene.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a>The idea “is to convene delegates from the states for the specific purpose of proposing amendment(s) to the U.S. Constitution and quelling the constitutional crisis on many key levels.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a> There are five steps to this process which requires 34 state legislatures to submit an application to convene. Proposed amendments include a balanced budget, limiting the use of Executive Orders to enact laws, and term limits on Congress and the Supreme Court. Ellis contends this is the most feasible and legally viable solution because only the U.S. Constitution can check the power of the Supreme Court. But we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i> to be involved. We need to educate: ourselves, our churches and our children. We need to pray. And we need to engage our fellow citizens, culture, and government.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">As Christians we have to recognize the importance of government as a God-ordained institution and desire to see a return to objective morality and biblical principles. It is vital we understand the current debate and be able to articulate it to others. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution</i> not only provides you with the historical, legal, and intellectual resources to defend your view against an ever-expanding secular government, but also a game plan to become involved in reclaiming our Constitution and culture. Christians who hold consistently to the truth of their worldview and apply its principles correctly find themselves uniquely qualified to be involved in politics precisely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because</i>the Christian worldview is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">True</i>, and the truth of our worldview permeates every area we properly employ the objective, moral principles found in Nature, Scripture, and our Founding Documents. We have to be involved, for the current cultural and constitutional crisis has demonstrated it is our religious liberty itself that is at stake. As attorney David French has stated in an article earlier this year, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">If the church surrenders the culture without putting up a true fight — without fully exercising its right and obligation to defend its constitutional freedoms — then it will richly deserve its legal and political fate. A spirit of timidity does not come from God, but timidity grips the church. If we don’t grow bold today, we’ll only have ourselves to blame tomorrow.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>Jenna Ellis, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution</i> (Bloomington, IN: WestBow, 2015), 21, emphasis in original.</div></div><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a>Ibid., 29, emphasis in original.</div></div><div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a>Ibid. 30.</div></div><div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a>Declaration of Independence.</div></div><div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a>See the Convention of States Project at <a href="http://www.conventionofstates.com/" target="_blank">www.conventionofstates.com</a></div></div><div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a>Ellis, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution</i>, 193.</div></div><div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a>David French, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The American Church Needs to Get Serious about Religious Liberty</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Now</i>, accessed at <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/437354/american-evangelicals-religious-liberty-fight" target="_blank">http://www.nationalreview.com/article/437354/american-evangelicals-religious-liberty-fight</a></div></div></div>Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08368231189912740927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-91009970687094082462016-09-30T08:00:00.000-07:002016-09-30T08:00:17.644-07:00Is Consent to Sex Consent to Pregnancy? [Clinton Wilcox]In her book&nbsp;<i>Breaking the Abortion Deadlock: From Choice to Consent</i>, sociologist Eileen McDonagh argued that pro-choice people should move the debate from being about choice to consent. In other words, instead of arguing a woman has a "right to choose" abortion, they should be arguing that an embryo only has the right to a woman's uterus if she grants consent to the uterus, and only if consent is ongoing. She argued that sex doesn't make a woman pregnant, sex only creates the embryo, and it's the embryo that makes the woman pregnant. Since the embryo occupies the woman's uterus against her will, the embryo is essentially a rapist, or a parasite (or perhaps one of the aliens from&nbsp;<i>Alien</i>). Since the embryo is essentially a rapist, the state has an obligation to protect her from this invader in the same way the state would use the police to protect her from an actual rapist.<br /><br />That's the thesis of her book, essentially. McDonagh has succeeded to some degree in changing the abortion debate to be about consent. I don't encounter this argument when I'm talking to a pro-abortion-choice advocate in person. But I occasionally encounter this argument in on-line discussions. It doesn't hold up to scrutiny, and it's not an argument that is seriously defended by most pro-abortion-choice people. It's more of an argument pro-abortion-choice people keep in their quiver as a backup.<br /><br />The argument fails for a few reasons, mainly because it has a wrong idea of where to place responsibility for the pregnancy. It's true that sex creates the embryo, but what is missed is not simply that the embryo is too young to have any rational idea of what is going on so he/she is not morally responsible for implanting in the uterus, but the embryo also is not causally responsible for implanting in the uterus. The woman's body is. Once the embryo is conceived from the sperm and the ovum, tiny hairs in the fallopian tube, called&nbsp;<i>cilia</i>, then&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/conception_how_it_works/">pick up</a>&nbsp;the newly conceived embryo and transport it into the uterus, where it then implants. It is the act of sex, itself, that not only conceives the embryo but also causes the embryo to implant in the uterus since it starts a chain reaction of causes and effects that results in pregnancy. Any woman who consensually engages in sex is responsible, morally and causally, for her pregnancy (of course, the man is responsible, too, but I am focusing on the woman for the purposes of this discussion). Since she engages in an act that is intrinsically ordered toward procreation, she is, then, morally responsible for caring for any embryo that results from this union.<br /><br />On top of tacitly granting consent to the use of her uterus by virtue of the fact she consented to the act that created the embryo and placed the embryo in a state of dependence upon her, this consent cannot be revoked. If the only way to remove someone from your property is to kill them, you cannot evict them. By way of analogy, if I allow someone the use of my house, I can revoke consent at any time. However, if I have granted that person consent to use my storm cellar during a tornado, I cannot then revoke consent until the tornado is gone and there is no danger. Even the idea of tacit consent can be seen here. Suppose "Weird Al" Yankovic's in town. I go to where he is appearing, then I drug his drink and take him back to my home, refusing to let him leave until he signs all of my CD's. But suppose I live in Kansas and in the midst of trying to get his autograph, a tornado touches down near my house. I can't, then, turn him out and say "tough luck, pal. You refused to polka with me, so my storm cellar, my choice." I now have a tacit obligation to protect him in my storm cellar because I have placed him in a state of dependence on me for protection.<br /><br />Another argument sometimes invoked to make this point is if you get into a car and get into an accident, you consented to drive but you did not consent to being in an accident. The doctor will still heal the person, even though they consented to get behind the wheel.<br /><br />This is, of course, true. But driving is not an act that intrinsically leads to getting in an accident in the same way that sex intrinsically leads to getting pregnant. If everything works as it is intended, then having sex will conceive a child. However, in driving, getting in an accident is an abuse of the intended function of the car. The intended function is to transport people and objects.<br /><br />To reiterate, this argument is not a very good one. It is also easy to show why the argument doesn't work. It requires denial of the metaphysical reality of cause and effect, namely that sex causes pregnancy; it doesn't just cause the embryo. The embryo would not exist if the man and woman did not have sex in the first place.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-71474835770878435802016-09-28T08:00:00.000-07:002016-09-29T11:30:54.166-07:00Book Review: Love Unleashes Life: Abortion and the Art of Communicating Truth by Stephanie Gray [Clinton Wilcox]<br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EEnVs3DHu1A/V-tMSNH9E8I/AAAAAAAAAYk/zfcoAYLOt-QTGjovc-ku-MyGtmzQhhyiwCLcB/s1600/LUL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EEnVs3DHu1A/V-tMSNH9E8I/AAAAAAAAAYk/zfcoAYLOt-QTGjovc-ku-MyGtmzQhhyiwCLcB/s200/LUL.jpg" width="132" /></a><i></i><br /><i><i>(Full disclosure: Stephanie is a friend and I have had the pleasure of engaging in pro-life activism with her. As such, I'll be referring to her by her first name because it feels weird to me to call her Gray. Additionally, even though she's a friend, these are still my honest thoughts on her book.)</i></i><br /><i><i><br /></i></i><i>Love Unleashes Life</i>&nbsp;is the newest book from pro-life advocate Stephanie Gray. It's a book that covers some of the intellectual and emotional arguments for abortion and how to respond to them, but the main focus of the book is in teaching people not just how to respond to these arguments, but also in how to engage in a more human way, by recognizing when emotional hang-ups and past trauma are undergirding someone's arguments.<br /><br />This book should be on every pro-life advocate's bookshelf. There are a lot of books you can pick up to help respond to pro-abortion-choice arguments, but precious few books that help engaging pro-abortion-choice people in a way that cuts to the heart and responds not just to concerns people have but in responding to the trauma they have experienced in the past. Few books, if any, do that as well as Steph's book here.<br /><br />This book seems to be largely intended for Christian readers. It's neither a pro nor a con, but I think worth pointing out, since I have nonreligious readers, as well. I do think nonreligious people can find a lot of value in this book, if they can overlook the Scripture references. And of course, the arguments she gives against these pro-abortion-choice arguments are nonreligious so as to appeal to the largest number of people possible and change more hearts and minds on the issue.<br /><br />Aside from the aforementioned, one of the things that stood out in particular is the fact that it's an excellent primer on communicating a controversial message. If you want to be a good communicator you will do well to pick up this book. On top of that, it has good focus on how to use language well (for a couple of examples, she talks about avoiding the word "but" because it can sound dismissive, and about using personal pronouns, such as "he" and "she" when referring to the unborn).<br /><br />I really enjoyed her discussion of double effect reasoning (pp. 64-65). Usually in discussions about abortions in the case of the woman's life being in jeopardy, the intentionality criterion is emphasized (e.g. that the unborn child's death is foreseen but unintended), but the other criteria for when double effect permits saving the woman's life in a life-threatening pregnancy aren't really discussed. Stephanie discusses all four criteria in some detail, to show what kinds of procedures double effect reasoning justifies. Her discussion even helped clarify my thinking a bit on this issue.<br /><br />As great as this book is, there are still some areas I feel could use improvement (perhaps for consideration in a second edition sometime in the future), and they're mainly along the philosophical side of things.<br /><br />Her book was mainly geared toward helping people like me talk more humanly about abortion, so it's not meant as a primer on the intellectual arguments for abortion choice. However, there were some arguments that were conspicuously missing.<br /><br />In her discussion of rape, she trots out the toddler to show that since we would not kill a toddler who was conceived in rape, if the unborn are fully human we should not kill the unborn for this reason. That's true as far as it goes, but most pro-abortion-choice people argue the reason abortion is permissible in rape is because she has been made pregnant against her will, so we should not force her to use her body for this child because she did not consent to having sex. Steph did address bodily rights arguments, but didn't address them in the context of the rape discussion.<br /><br />Another thing was her constant use of the term pre-born. I understand why she is using it, and I know many pro-life people who insist on using it (over the term "unborn"). The problem is that many pro-abortion-choice people consider the term "pre-born" to be a propagandistic term. It can lead to irrelevant debates over terminology if you use that term rather than unborn. It's possible that Steph's experience has shown her otherwise, but in my experience using "pre-born" instead of "unborn" can derail the conversation. At the very least, I thought the book could have used a brief section talking about why she opted to use "pre-born" instead of "unborn".<br /><br />Her section about personhood is good, but I feel it didn't go far enough. Most of the way Steph responds to the question of personhood is by driving home the point that it's ageism -- the reason the unborn aren't conscious or self-aware is because they're too young to be conscious or self-aware, but will be in time. However, in our current age we are defending what has come to be considered a controversial proposition -- that there are such things as natures, and that numerical identity is retained even in the absence of psychological connectedness. Again, I realize the point of the book was not to go too deep into these arguments (and there are other books one can read to learn how to respond to these arguments), but I feel that we'd encounter a number of people who might actually answer "yes" to the question of whether or not age is a relevant factor in one's value, especially considering that euthanasia is becoming more accepted. So I would have liked to see addressed why consciousness or self-awareness are not relevant factors in determining one's value, since there are a number of people we'll have to respond to who hold to these types of arguments.<br /><br />My final con was regarding her section of the teleological view of the uterus. This is a view I wholeheartedly endorse, and she's really the only person in the abortion literature I've seen defend this specific view (other thinkers defend teleological views, but it usually has to do with the personhood discussion and whether or not we're persons from fertilization). I like her argument, but there were a few counterarguments I came up with in my head that I wish she would have addressed. So basically this comes down to I really wish she would have responded to potential criticisms of her views because I'm very much interested in how she would respond to them.<br /><br />The missing arguments aren't a huge deal, since it's not really the point of the book to give a full primer on these arguments. This book is an invaluable resource to a pro-life advocate's arsenal.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-75625140191748611902016-09-26T13:03:00.000-07:002016-09-26T13:03:23.751-07:00Book Review: Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade by Daniel K. Williams [Clinton Wilcox]Special thanks to Oxford University Press for the free copy to review.<br /><br />Daniel Williams has done a great service to the pro-life field by researching and compiling this volume regarding the history of the pro-life movement. There are now two books on abortion history that I would suggest grace every pro-life advocate's bookshelves: Dispelling the Myths of Abortion History by Joseph Dellapenna, and now Defenders of the Unborn by Daniel K. Williams.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u68u1vfcPd4/V-l-uH4kfwI/AAAAAAAAAYI/_ZVWlmDdzwwzYG0uZ_TMEih2Kmazh5F3ACLcB/s1600/DU%2BBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u68u1vfcPd4/V-l-uH4kfwI/AAAAAAAAAYI/_ZVWlmDdzwwzYG0uZ_TMEih2Kmazh5F3ACLcB/s200/DU%2BBook.jpg" width="131" /></a>This book is meticulously researched and sourced. It tells the historical tale of how a movement of pro-life advocates, who were largely Catholic and Democrat, tried to work against the liberalization of abortion laws, which eventually culminated in Roe v. Wade, ending the ultimate safety of unborn children in the womb. It recounts not just how they fought against these bills, but also the progression of their arguments, from making Natural Law arguments, to Constitutional rights-based arguments, to showing abortion victim photography, to arguing that women are victims of the abortion culture. It shows how, even though the movement started as mainly Catholic Democrats, eventually it became a much more diverse movement.<br /><br />I've been doing work in the abortion field for a long time now, and there's a lot of false information regarding abortion history and the history of the pro-life movement out there. I've heard much of it over and over again. One glaring historical error I hear is that there was no pro-life movement until after Roe v. Wade was passed. Williams shows that it simply isn't the case. There was much pro-life work being done before Roe v. Wade, in order to ensure that unborn human lives were protected.<br /><br />It's also worth noting that Williams is very even-handed in his approach. He doesn't insult either side; in fact, he uses language that both sides use in the course of writing his book. So even though this book is written by a pro-life person, a pro-abortion-choice person can read this as a history book without getting offended by inflammatory language.<br /><br />If there is one negative point to this book, it would just be that it's very matter-of-factly written, with a lot of information given to you, so it's pretty dry reading. It's not the kind of book you'd just sit down and finish in one or two sittings. But if you read it through, study it, and take notes, it will greatly benefit you, especially with all the false information regarding abortion history and the history of the pro-life movement is out there.Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-2144738814291040342016-08-11T09:34:00.000-07:002016-08-12T10:48:03.442-07:00Why Rachel Held Evans is Wrong to Tell Christians to Vote for Hillary Clinton, Part III [Seth Gruber]<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">(This is the third part in a three-part series responding to an article by Rachel Held Evans, which you can read <a href="http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/pro-life-voting-for-hillary-clinton" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>. This series is a joint effort between Seth Gruber and Clinton Wilcox. For part one in this series, go <a href="http://lti-blog.blogspot.com/2016/08/why-rachel-held-evans-is-wrong-to-tell.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>. For part two in this series, go <a href="http://lti-blog.blogspot.com/2016/08/why-rachel-held-evans-is-wrong-to-tell_8.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)</span></i><br /><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;tahoma&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;freesans&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;tahoma&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;freesans&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">In our previous article, we responded to Evans' first two points. In this article, we'll respond to her last two points and wrap up with some concluding thoughts. The two points we'll be responding to are as follows:</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;tahoma&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;freesans&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;tahoma&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;freesans&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">3. <i>Pro-life advocates should support, rather than oppose, efforts to help low-income families care for their children.</i></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;tahoma&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;freesans&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">4. <i>If we want to dramatically reduce the abortion rate in this country, we must support efforts to make contraception more accessible and affordable.</i></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;tahoma&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;freesans&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 9.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pro-life advocates should support, rather than oppose, efforts to help low-income families care for their children</span></div><b id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-7622-b0d3-ea5f-a88d2e5e9c41" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Besides saying that “many” conservatives have opposed such bills, highlighting conservative opposition to Obama’s “initiative aimed at improving the distribution of free or low-cost diapers to poor families struggling to</span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/10/news/diaper-gap-affordable-obama/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">care for their babies”, Evans provides no proof or evidence that pro-life advocates oppose efforts to help low-income families care for their children. If she is going to make such a claim, she needs to provide proof that such a dubious claim is in fact true.</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Evans has often written about the importance of being consistently pro-life in all areas and living a life that reflects our belief in the importance and sacredness of all life! Evans, it seems, is working to expand the culturally accepted term “pro-life” from its “anti-abortion” meaning to include a</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ffordable health care, poverty alleviation, paid family and medical leave, helping families of special needs children, racial reconciliation, etc., but she does so at the expense of pro-lifers' central conviction. Jay Hobbs, editor in chief of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://pregnancyhelpnews.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">PregnancyHelpNews.com</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, writes in his article responding to Rachel Evans entitled “</span><a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/08/05/no-rachel-held-evans-voting-for-hillary-clinton-is-not-pro-life/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No, Rachel Held Evans, voting for Hillary Clinton is not Pro-Life</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” that:</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A pro-life conviction comes from recognizing the inherent value and dignity of every human life. That is why we oppose abortion in all cases. We can argue a bigger tent, but never at the expense of that central conviction. Here’s where Held Evans gets in the weeds, and it’s where she stays. In trying to expand the definition of “pro-life,” she’s doing the very opposite, redefining the term to exclude the one issue on which we “pro-lifers” unanimously agree.</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By refocusing the issue on the importance of poverty, health-care, racial issues, etc., Evans compromises the very central conviction that unites pro-lifers (that abortion is an indefensible act of violence which takes the life of a defenseless unborn human person). She does this by encouraging us to vote for Hillary, who has shown her commitment to such issues. “</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hillary Clinton has devoted much of her life to tackling these very issues, and she’s made them a centerpiece of her campaign” Evans says. The message Evans is sending to the Church is this:</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are truly and consistently pro-life, you should vote for Hillary Clinton because she is committed to addressing issues that will enable us to care for families and children once they are born. Such a vote will help our country address the underlying causes that lead to unwanted pregnancies so that we can continue to decrease the abortion rate in America.</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And our message for Rachel Held Evans and her like-minded friends is this:</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pro-lifers CAN’T support efforts to help low-income families care for their (born) children </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">when it comes at the cost</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of electing a candidate to the highest office in the land who has also promised to fight for the “rights” of low-income families to take their unborn children to a clinic where a “doctor” will slaughter that child through dismemberment and use your tax-dollars to help pay for it.</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Would we consider voting for Hillary Clinton if, while retaining all of her good policies to help low-income families, provide </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ffordable health care, alleviate poverty, and bring racial reconciliation, she also promised to work tirelessly to secure and defend the rights of men to practice their bodily autonomy (without government interference) in how they choose to interact with their wives, be it physically abusive or not? I think not. </span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The bottom line is this: Pro-life advocates </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">do</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> support efforts to help low-income families care for their children, both before and after birth. The prominence of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) in America is proof of this. Time magazine </span><a href="http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2008846,00.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reported in 2010</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that “</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">recent estimates indicate there are now more than five times as many CPCs in the U.S. as there are abortion clinics”. Given that pro-life laws have shut down many abortion clinics over the last several years, it is likely that the ratio of CPCs to abortion clinics is even higher now. So while pro-life advocates care for and support efforts to help low-income families care for their children, we cannot vote for a candidate whose policies and promises to care for such families and children only begin at birth.</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. &nbsp;If we want to dramatically reduce the abortion rate in this country, we must support efforts to make contraception more accessible and affordable</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have only one question for Rachel Held Evans on this point: What type of contraception are you referring to? Preventative or abortifacient? While there are many who oppose the usage of contraceptives on moral grounds, contraception is in a different camp than abortion because contraception is meant to prevent the conception of a human being, whereas abortifacients take the life of an unborn human being after it has begun. So even if someone has moral issues with contraception, we should not enforce that moral position in law. We </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">should</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> enforce the moral position that abortion is wrong and should be illegal in law because taking a life is still wrong, even if someone doesn’t believe they are actually taking a life (by way of analogy, we should still make infanticide illegal even though there are those who believe infanticide is morally licit and may want to take the life of their infant under certain conditions). Such non-abortifacient contraceptive methods should be accessible and affordable. And we agree with Rachel Evans that these methods do play a part in decreasing the abortion rate since many of the couples who would get pregnant without preventative contraceptives would most likely seek out abortion. </span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, abortifacient drugs such as RU-486, Norplant, Depo-Provera, Methotrexate &amp; Misoprostol, and others, all have an abortifacient mechanism built into them. Let’s be clear: conception, not implantation, is the beginning of a new individual, a human person with intrinsic value and an inherent, natural ordering towards rationality. Abortifacient drugs are taken with the intent of causing an early abortion, and contraceptives are taken with the intent of stopping ovulation and blocking the sperm (thereby preventing conception).</span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If Rachel Held Evans is including abortifacients in her category of “contraception” when she says, “we must support efforts to make</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> contraception </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">more accessible and affordable”, then this is tantamount to saying:</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we want to dramatically reduce the abortion rate in this country, we must support efforts to make early-medication abortions more accessible and affordable.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Such a statement is clearly ludicrous because it is self-refuting. It can’t live by its own rules. We can’t </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reduce</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the abortion rate in America by supporting efforts to make early-medication abortion methods more accessible and affordable. Doing so only increases the abortion rate and makes it more difficult to track since many of these abortifacient drugs are available over the counter. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rachel Evans has not specified what type of contraception she means, but there is good reason to believe that she is not opposed to at least some forms of abortifacients. We know this based off her admissions that she “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">believes the sacred personhood of an individual begins before birth” (no mention of conception), her statement that the “fact that a woman’s body naturally rejects dozens of fertilized eggs in her lifetime raises questions about where we draw the line regarding the personhood of a zygote”, and her questioning of whether we should count the loss of early embryonic life through natural miscarriages as deaths.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So yes, pro-life advocates should support efforts to make contraception accessible and affordable,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but we already have a situation in which it is widely accessible and affordable. If you mean we should force the taxpayer to pay for it, that’s where we run into issues. Not getting it without paying for it is not the same thing as not being accessible and affordable.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, it is reasonable to believe that the use of such contraceptives will help decrease the abortion rate in America if the contraception we are discussing is purely preventative. If it is an abortifacient or has the potential to be abortifacient, then increasing the accessibility and affordability of such methods will only lead to the loss of more unborn life and</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> raise</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the abortion rate in America.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A final word to Rachel Held Evans and like-minded progressive evangelicals…</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have posed the question multiple times. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you believe that you can be pro-life while voting for a pro-choice candidate because you believe they will help keep the abortion rate lower and address the underlying causes that lead women to choose abortion in the first place, then would you consistently apply that same ethic if the social justice issue in question was spousal abuse?</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Would you proudly blog about and encourage believers by saying:</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So even though I think wife-beating is morally wrong in most cases, and support more legal restrictions around it, I often vote for candidates who promise to fight to keep wife-beating legal, when I think their policies will do the most to address the health and economic concerns that drive men to beat their wives in the first place. For me, it’s not just about being pro-wife; it’s about being pro-life.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If not, then we demand a response explaining t</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he fundamental difference between the two scenarios that makes the argument reasonable in the former, but not in the latter, case. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only difference we can see is that if anything, our example doesn’t go far enough.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spousal abuse, while a horrific and morally disgusting practice, is not taking the lives of over one million wives each year in the United States. Abortion, however, is taking the lives of over one million precious unborn human persons each year in the United States alone, according to the </span><a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/factsheet/fb_induced_abortion.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Guttmacher Institute</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and well over fifty-three million abortions have been performed in the U.S. since the legalization of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roe v. Wade</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 1973.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If Clinton gets elected, as Evans hopes, she and the rest of the evangelical-left who voted for her will be in the difficult position of having to explain:</span></div><ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How you can claim God’s love for kids while voting for a woman who says that </span><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/3/hillary-clinton-unborn-person-has-no-constitutiona/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“the unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> , </span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How you can claim to care for the defenseless and those on the fringes of society while voting for a woman who opposed the </span><a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/36" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which would have made abortion illegal after 20 weeks, at which point substantial medical evidence proves that the unborn can feel the pain of dismemberment, while also accusing said bill of </span><a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/03/08/debunking_the_latest_lie_about_hillary_clinton_no_she_didnt_say_she_supports_a_20_week_ban_on_abortion/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“not being based on sound science”</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> , </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How you can claim to be for women’s rights while supporting a woman who champions and promises to continue protecting the rights of women to take their unborn baby girls to be slaughtered by abortionists, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How you can vote for a woman who </span><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/249033-hillary-clinton-defends-planned-parenthood-amid-video" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">defended Planned Parenthood</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> after </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxwVuozMnU&amp;spfreload=10" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">videos exposed</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the organization’s trafficking of aborted baby body parts by saying, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I think it is unfortunate that Planned Parenthood has been the object of such a concentrated attack for so many years”, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How you can quote Bible verses like “love your neighbor” while voting for a woman who wants to continue defending and protecting the rights of women to abort their unborn children through dismemberment; children who are the most vulnerable members of the human family, and most in need of being treated as “neighbors”, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How you can support a woman </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4o4WizW2mQ" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">who said</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about </span><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/5/grossu-margaret-sanger-eugenicist/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">racist, eugenicist Margaret Sanger</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, “I admire her enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision… I am really in awe of her, there are a lot of lessons we can learn from her life”, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How you can claim to be pro-life and vote for a woman who said in </span><a href="https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/628271116142800896" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a video addressing the American people</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, “I’m proud to stand with Planned Parenthood, I’ll never stop fighting to protect the ability and right of every woman in this country to make her own health decisions”, when we all know that when Hillary says “health decisions”, </span><a href="http://prolifetraining.com/media/abortion-video/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this is what she really means</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How you can claim to want improved health-care options for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all people</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, while voting for a woman</span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/hillary-clinton-video-ad-support-planned-parenthood-2016-120949" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who said</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“When politicians talk about defunding Planned Parenthood, they’re talking about blocking millions of women, men and young people from life-saving, preventive care.” You know that “life-saving, preventive care" includes the option for pregnant mothers to pay an abortionist to slaughter their unborn child through dismemberment; which suggests that you really only care about improved health care-options for born people, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And lastly, how you can vote for a woman who, as </span><a href="http://liveactionnews.org/author/susan-michelle-tyrell/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Susan Michelle</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Live Action News</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://liveactionnews.org/hillary-clinton-planned-parenthood-will-always-back/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">points out</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, “</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is willing to look past the illegal actions and indiscretions of Planned Parenthood”, given their “history of </span><a href="http://liveactionnews.org/new-report-discovers-planned-parenthood-taxpayer-fraud-millions/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #294e85; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fraud</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, supporting </span><a href="http://www.liveaction.org/protect-our-girls/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #294e85; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sex-selective abortion</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, willingness to cover up </span><a href="http://www.liveaction.org/traffick" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #294e85; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">child sex-trafficking</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, failure to report </span><a href="http://www.liveaction.org/monalisa" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #294e85; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">child sexual abuse</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, dissemination of </span><a href="http://www.liveaction.org/rosaacuna/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #294e85; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">inaccurate medical information</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to women, and even </span><a href="https://liveaction.org/planned-parenthood-false-mammogram-claims/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #294e85; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 17.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lying about providing mammograms</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”, while claiming that pro-life means caring for all lives, be they children, women, or the unborn.</span></div></li></ol><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Evangelicals, I implore you</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Don’t support Hillary Clinton. Don’t support an ageist demagogue who </span><a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom-staff/hillary-clinton-unborn-person-doesnt-have-constitutional-rights" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">won’t even acknowledge that the unborn person has constitutional rights</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Abortion has been legal far too long and has taken the lives of far too many unborn children. Don’t claim to be pro-life and simultaneously vote for a candidate who is committed to protect the “freedom” and “rights” of women to take those lives you claim to care about to be torn apart by abortionists. Don’t claim to believe in the inherent value and dignity of unborn persons while lending your vote to someone who </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">might</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> decrease the abortion rate, while at the same time boldly promising to Planned Parenthood that she will always have their back and will be their “</span><a href="http://www.lifenews.com/2016/06/10/hillary-clinton-tells-planned-parenthood-as-president-i-will-always-have-your-back/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">partner in the election and for the long haul</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. </span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Too many precious unborn human lives are on the line for us to risk anything but outright opposition to a candidate who </span><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/updates/2016/06/10/hillary-clinton-delivers-remarks-at-planned-parenthood-action-fund/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">promises to increase funding and access</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to abortion, to ensure a woman’s right to take her unborn child to Planned Parenthood or any other abortion provider and have that child killed so that she may live the life she wants. We hope and pray that no Christian would ever think that support for a candidate like this is morally upright or permissible.</span>Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-22698884182815193312016-08-08T19:55:00.000-07:002016-08-09T10:32:39.285-07:00Why Rachel Held Evans is Wrong to Tell Christians to Vote For Hillary Clinton, Part II [Seth Gruber]<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">(This is the second in a three-part series responding to an article by Rachel Held Evans, which you can read <a href="http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/pro-life-voting-for-hillary-clinton" target="_blank">here</a>. This series is a joint effort between Seth Gruber and Clinton Wilcox. For part one in this series, go <a href="http://lti-blog.blogspot.com/2016/08/why-rachel-held-evans-is-wrong-to-tell.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)</span></i><br /><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">In our previous article, we responded to various points Evans raised in her introduction. In this article, we'll respond to her first two points, leaving the last two for the final article in this series. The two points we'll be responding to are as follows:</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>1. Voting pro-choice is not the same as voting for abortion.</i></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>2. Criminalizing abortion won't necessarily reduce abortions.</i></span></span><br /><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">1. Voting pro-choice is not the same as voting for abortion</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">This is tantamount to saying:</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Voting for a candidate who is pro-choice on wife beating is not the same as voting for wife beating. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Regardless of your pro- or anti-position on wife beating, a vote for a political candidate who believes that men should have the freedom to choose whether they want to beat their wives or not and has promised to do everything in his power to protect that right by law, would be a vote FOR wife beating. And we would discourage people from voting for such a candidate and would be appalled if our fellow believing brothers and sisters chose to vote for that candidate anyways.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">In her first point, Evans mentions that the abortion issue doesn’t fall neatly into black and white categories but is much more complex. She seeks to illustrate the “supposed” complexities of the abortion issue by pointing to the frequency of early miscarriages, the historical disagreement among evangelicals regarding when personhood begins, and the potential consequences of criminalizing abortion.</span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Regarding early miscarriages</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Evans says:</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">The fact that a woman’s body naturally rejects hundreds of fertilized eggs in her lifetime raises questions about where we draw the line regarding the personhood of a zygote. Do we count all those “natural abortions” as deaths?</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">To be clear, Rachel Evans is talking about miscarriages, the spontaneous yet unfortunate death of the early embryo, who has already come into existence, and is itself a distinct, living, and whole human being with a “dynamic orientation towards self-expressive activity” (Kaczor, 93).</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christopher Kaczor </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">makes the simple observation that “death rates have no relationship to personhood” (Kaczor 131). High early embryo mortality rate does </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>not</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> raise any such question regarding when personhood arises in the early embryo. “For centuries throughout the world, indeed until the twentieth century, the rate of infant mortality was more than 50%” (Kaczor 131), but no one would question whether such infants were persons or point to the complexity of determining the line for personhood.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So why does Rachel Evans do this with the unborn? Does she not believe the unborn is entitled to rights of personhood from the moment of conception? She hasn’t said so. What she has said is that for her, pro-life means to “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">believe the sacred personhood of an individual begins before birth”, but not necessarily at conception. The belief that life begins at conception and that the embryo we once were began at that moment is the most fundamental pro-life belief, so it is deeply troubling to us that Rachel Evans has not claimed to believe that. &nbsp;And the failure to confess this foundational, pro-life belief is perhaps what enables her to assume that a high early embryo mortality rate translates to confusion over when personhood arises, even though she wouldn’t dare pose such a question in regards to high infant mortality rate.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">So yes Rachel, we do count all those “early abortions” (or miscarriages) as real deaths.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Regarding the historical disagreement among evangelicals</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on when personhood arises, Evans says,</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When does personhood begin—at fertilization? implantation? the presence of brainwaves? the second trimester? &nbsp;There is disagreement among Christians about this, (</span><a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/30/my-take-when-evangelicals-were-pro-choice/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #a57c5c; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and historically, even among evangelicals</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), so is it really my place, or the government's job, to impose my beliefs on people of all faiths and convictions?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pointing to historical disagreement among evangelicals regarding when personhood arises does absolutely nothing to prove that we don’t know when human personhood begins. We used to disagree regarding whether African Americans were full persons and whether women were entitled to the full rights of a man. Yet, we look back at those events and wish that the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">correct </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">view </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">had</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> been “imposed” on the rest of society, because we were imposing our incorrect view of human personhood on blacks and women by depriving them of rights they deserved intrinsically.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rachel Evans, we appeal to you as brothers in Christ and gently remind you that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it is your place</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as a follower of Jesus to love your neighbor and speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. So are the unborn our neighbors from the earliest stages of development (i.e. conception)? The science of embryology is clear that human life and development begins at the moment of fertilization (</span><a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/scottklusendorf/2015/11/30/in-their-own-words-prolifers-arent-the-only-ones-who-call-abortion-killing-n2086417" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">even abortion-choice advocates know this</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) . We then look to philosophy to answer the question of value and personhood. (</span><a href="http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-minute-1/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">See the 5-minute pro-lifer</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) If you don’t ground the genesis of human personhood at conception, then you are espousing a performance view of personhood that says we are only valuable because of arbitrarily-determined capacities or characteristics. Why? Because if human personhood is not grounded in the human being’s nature, which comes to be at conception, then what explains value? What determines personhood? If it’s not intrinsic (the unborn being valuable by virtue of the kind of thing that it is), then it has to be something the unborn can do, perform, or realize at a later stage in its development (quickening, ability to feel pain, detection of brain waves, memory, etc..). And if the latter is true, then we must be prepared to accept that there are many born people who don’t have such capacities and abilities, and therefore, we must also call into question whether they are full persons yet.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So yes Rachel, it is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your place</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and our place to “impose” the belief that human life and personhood begins at conception and it is wrong to take the life of a defenseless, innocent, unborn human person through legalized abortion on the rest of society.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Regarding the potential consequences of criminalizing abortion</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Evans says,</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">If abortion is criminalized, should every miscarriage be investigated by police? Should in vitro fertilization be outlawed?</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">If abortion is made illegal (“criminalized”), a miscarriage will still be a spontaneous and unfortunate loss of life with no one to blame. In a post-<i>Roe</i> world, miscarriages will still occur, and as long as such miscarriages are a spontaneous and uncaused event, then women won’t be charged or blamed, any more than we would charge a woman for murder whose son slipped and fell to his death while rock-climbing. Miscarriages are more often than not extremely traumatic and sad events in the life a mother, father, or couple and such an event should be acknowledged as a real loss for which grief is appropriate. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, in a post-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Roe</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> world, if there were questionable circumstances surrounding a miscarriage that caused people to question whether such an event was spontaneous, than the police would be required to look into it, just as they are required to do so when there may be reason to believe that the death of a born child may be linked to a family member. In such a world, abortifacient “contraceptives” would also be outlawed, so inducing an “early-abortion” would require more </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-induced_abortion" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">old-fashioned techniques</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that would likely leave behind evidence of such an act. If such an investigation was warranted and led to the discovery that the “miscarriage” in question was caused and self-induced by the mother or someone else, then we would be required to charge said person with first-degree murder. If the early abortion was induced by someone other than the mother, a secondary charge for crimes against the mother would also be required. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So no, Rachel, if abortion were made illegal, not </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>every</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> miscarriage would be investigated by police, but only those for which there were good reasons to assume, or evidence to warrant an investigation, that the “miscarriage” in question was actually an induced abortion.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Regarding in vitro fertilization, it’s beyond the scope of this article to give a full treatment of the morality or immorality of the procedure. However, excess embryos are always created through IVF. This is because the process is very expensive and carries extreme risks to the mother in extracting her ova, so excess embryos are created to give the process the greatest chance of forming an embryo that will successfully implant into the mother. These excess embryos that are not ultimately implanted into the woman are either used for experimentation, or sometimes stored away. Since excess human embryos are created and ultimately destroyed, experimented on, etc., IVF, as it is currently practiced, is highly immoral and should be outlawed, even now.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">2. Criminalizing abortion won’t necessarily reduce abortions</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Evans’ argument here seems wrong, on the face of it. If people are generally law-abiding citizens, then most of them will follow the law. Of course a lot of women will still abort, but even those who do still abort should be punished when they do so. This is true whether or not the number of abortions have been reduced. The unborn are still full human beings, and taking their lives should bring with it legal penalties. Additionally, as was the case before </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roe</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was decided on in 1973, women were often granted immunity if they released the name of the abortionist who did the procedure. There are bigger fish to fry, and going after the abortionist will save more lives in the long run.</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The assumption in Evans’ argument here is that we shouldn’t make abortion illegal, because that won’t necessarily even reduce the number of abortions anyway, but instead should be “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">working to decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies using the tools we already have”.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">In the introduction, Evans wrote the following:</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">So even though I think abortion is morally wrong in most cases, and support more legal restrictions around it, I often vote for pro-choice candidates when I think their policies will do the most to address the health and economic concerns that drive women to get abortions in the first place. For me, it’s not just about being pro-birth; it’s about being pro-life.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">But let’s think about that for a moment. Suppose we weren’t talking about abortion, but spousal abuse. We’re going to change a few words around. Let’s see if Rachel’s argument still holds up:</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #191919; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">So even though I think wife-beating is morally wrong in most cases, and support more legal restrictions around it, I often vote for candidates who promise to fight to keep wife-beating legal, when I think their policies will do the most to address the health and economic concerns that drive men to beat their wives in the first place. For me, it’s not just about being pro-wife; it’s about being pro-life.</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">If this argument doesn’t sit well with you, but you agree with the former argument as Evans presents it, then what is the fundamental difference between the two scenarios that makes the argument reasonable in the former, but not in the latter, case?</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Evans points out that in areas where abortion is illegal and heavily restricted, their abortion rates were no lower than the rest of the world. She goes on to say, </span><i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In fact in Latin America, a region with highly restrictive abortion laws, one in three pregnancies (32%) ended in abortion in 2010--2014, higher than any other region”</span></i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Such thinking is dangerous as it often leads to asking this question: </span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">If women are going to get abortions anyway, shouldn’t we just keep it legal so that it’s at least safe?</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frank Beckwith </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131313; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">deals with this question by asking another question: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>“Should we then legalize child pornography and the hitman profession because we can’t stop all people from obtaining such ‘goods’ and services?”</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Beckwith, 122). Clearly not. Some choices are wrong and require us to forbid them from being made for the very reason that those choices hurt or end the life of innocent human persons with intrinsic value.</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Aside from that, Evans has not really proven anything. In fact, she’s guilty of cherry picking evidence in order to prove her claim.</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, you can’t just look at Latin America, with highly restrictive abortion laws, and argue, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ipso facto</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, that abortion laws don’t reduce abortion rates. You have to look at a country in a state in which abortion is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>illegal</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and that same country in a state in which abortion is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>legal</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and compare the two. Only then can you know whether or not restrictive abortion laws have actually worked in reducing abortions. Even then, it’s difficult to get accurate figures because abortions are not always accurately reported, especially if they are illegal.</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second, Evans looks at Latin America, but ignores a country like Ireland, in which only </span><a href="http://www.irishhealth.com/clin/pregnancy/features2.html?artid=1106" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1 in 9 pregnancies end in abortion.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This suggests that there are other factors at work which affect the abortion rates, such as the fact that there are many developing countries in Latin America, which means more poverty and other situations in which women might feel they need abortions. If abortion laws were less restrictive, the number of abortions in Latin America might be much higher.</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This leads us to finally address Evans’ claim. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Will making abortion illegal significantly reduce the abortion rate in America?</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;">Evans’ arguments assume a view of the law that we take issue with, namely that the law cannot and will not change people’s behavior. Thus, Evans’ statement: <i>“women will continue to seek out abortions even if they are illegal”</i>. Obviously, people break the law all the time. So to an extent, laws won’t change people’s behavior, but that doesn’t mean they can’t change some people’s, or even a majority of people’s, behavior. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his address to Western Michigan University in 1963, <i>“It may be true that the law can’t make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important, also.”</i> It doesn’t take a genius to realize that if stealing and murder were legal, we would see a huge rise in theft and homicide cases. But thanks to the law, people are less likely to commit the act to which they are tempted.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beckwith adds:</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i>“[T]he function of law is not always to reflect the attitudes and behavior of society but to serve as ‘a mechanism by which people are encouraged to do what they know is right, even when it is difficult to do so’”</i> (David Reardon, <i>Aborted Women: Silent No More</i>, Acorn Books, Springfield, Il, 2002, p. 319, as quoted in Beckwith, 122). Reardon goes on to point out that while law reflects morality (the laws we make are based on moral standards of living), morality can also reflect law: <i>“Studies in the psychology of morality reveal that the law is truly the teacher. One of the most significant conclusions of these studies shows that existing laws and customs are the most important criteria for deciding what is right or wrong for most adults in a given culture”</i> (Reardon, 319-320, as quoted in Beckwith, ibid.). In other words, most adults don’t make choices based on their moral intuitions, but based on what the law has said is right or wrong. So if and when abortion is made illegal, it is safe to say that we will see a significant decrease in the abortion rate in America.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that we've responded to Evans' first two points, we'll respond to her last two points in our next article.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Works cited:</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beckwith, Francis J., <i>Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice</i>, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 2007.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Kaczor, Christopher, <i>The Ethics of Abortion: Women's Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice</i>, First Edition, Routledge, New York, NY, 2010.</span></span>Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-52635801541505380512016-08-06T15:29:00.001-07:002016-08-12T10:58:50.096-07:00Why Rachel Held Evans is Wrong to Tell Christians to Vote for Hillary Clinton, Part I [Seth Gruber]<i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">(This is the first in a three-part series responding to an article by Rachel Held Evans. This series is a joint effort between Seth Gruber and Clinton Wilcox.)</i><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"></span><br /><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rachel Held Evans, a Christian blogger and author, recently published a post on her</span><a href="http://rachelheldevans.com/about/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">blog</span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> entitled</span><a href="http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/pro-life-voting-for-hillary-clinton" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“So you’re thinking of voting for a pro-choice candidate”</span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (we encourage you to read her blog post in its entirety before reading our response) in which she encourages Christians to cast their vote for Hillary Clinton. Her main argument is that:</span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since abortion rates have dropped to their lowest numbers during the last eight years under a democratic president, and because democratic social policies do more to create a culture with less unwanted pregnancies, Christians should vote for Hillary, whose policy proposals will help address the underlying causes of unwanted pregnancies and continue to decrease the abortion rate in America.</span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f6-b8fb-8386-8b49692a73cc"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s be clear: This response article is not pro-Trump. By critiquing Rachel’s article and arguments in support of voting for Hillary, we are not tacitly supporting Trump. We are setting out to do what our title suggests: giving reasons for why Rachel Held Evans is wrong to tell Christians to vote for Hillary Clinton.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><div style="line-height: 1.38;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Evans offers four main points to back up her argument that Christians should vote for Hillary (who will do a better job at keeping the abortion rate lower by addressing the underlying causes of unwanted pregnancies):</span></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.88px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Voting pro-choice is not the same as voting for abortion</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.88px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Criminalizing (making abortion illegal) abortion won’t necessarily reduce abortions</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.88px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pro-life advocates should support, rather than oppose, efforts to help low-income families care for</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> their children</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.88px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We must support efforts to make contraception more accessible and affordable if we want to</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> dramatically reduce the abortion rate in this country.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before we address each of Evans’ main points, we must take issue with her main argument. Evans says that, “</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the eight years since we’ve had a pro-choice president, the abortion rate in the U.S. has dropped to its lowest since 1973</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. &nbsp;There are </span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">three things</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> we must examine here.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, is this claim true? Is the abortion rate at a record low in the United States? Evans provides no evidence or proof to back up such a claim.</span><a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2014/us-abortion-rate-hits-lowest-level-1973" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Guttmacher Institute reports</span></a><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that this is indeed the case, so perhaps this should have been Evans’ source. Yet, in this same article we read:</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the overall abortion rate continued to decline, the proportion of abortions that were early medication procedures continued to increase. An estimated 239,400 early medication abortions were performed in 2011, representing 23% of all nonhospital abortions, an increase from 17% in 2008. The study estimated that 59% of all known abortion providers offer this service.</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An “early medication abortion” refers to an</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortifacient" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">abortifacient</span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> pill that is taken orally which induces an abortion. So according to the Guttmacher Institute, there has been a huge rise in abortions due to abortifacients and those numbers don’t seem to be included in the overall abortion rate. Furthermore, Guttmacher Institute admits that, “early medication abortion has become an integral part of abortion care” (</span><a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/pubs/journals/4304111.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abortion Incidence and Access to Services In the United States, 2008</span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), so to suggest that the abortion rate is at record lows in the United States is to </span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">only</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> acknowledge and account for the number of surgical abortions performed. But given that t</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he</span><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6108a1.htm" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CDC reports</span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that 16.5 percent of the estimated 1.2 million abortions that take place annually in the United States involve the mifepristone drug or RU-486, it is safe to say that the annual abortion rate is much higher than Guttmacher would lead us to believe.</span></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Evans is guilty of the </span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">post hoc ergo propter hoc </span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[1]</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fallacy</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (correlation doesn’t prove causation). Even if it’s true that the annual abortion rate in America has hit record lows under the Obama administration, this in no way proves that it was BECAUSE of the Obama presidency over the last eight years that abortion rates are at record lows. We have good reason to believe that the drop in abortion rates is actually due to the pro-life laws that have been enacted over the last decade.</span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Michael New, PH.d. (assistant professor at the University of Alabama) published a</span><a href="http://spa.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/20/1532440014535477.abstract" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">study on the impact of U.S. antiabortion legislation</span></a><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and found that informed consent, parental involvement, and public funding restriction laws all helped decrease abortion rates. Informed consent laws may include a counseling visit prior to obtaining an abortion, specific information about development in the womb, or even viewing photos of an unborn baby’s development. Such laws may result in a 3-7 percent decrease in the abortion rate. Parental involvement laws decrease abortion rates from anywhere between 13 to 42 percent. And according to the study, 37% of women who were abortion-minded ended up carrying to term when public funding was not available.</span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-60f9-4bdf-3574-212506eb0ffe"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If Rachel Evans is going to draw a correlation between states of affairs, such as the Obama administration and the significant drop in the abortion rate, she needs to prove causation between the two.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dc87e651-6100-9c02-513a-d9297cebc2c5"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Third</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Evans wrongly portrays the pro-life movement’s goal. While we certainly celebrate declines in the abortion rate (if this is indeed the case), that is not our ultimate goal. </span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pro-life people are working to make abortion unthinkable with the </span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ultimate goal</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of making the killing of innocent unborn humans illegal. Even if pro-choice presidents and legislators were responsible for a short-term decline in abortion rates, our ultimate goals are different. So if we were to stick with pro-choice presidents, assuming Evans is right, we might have short-term success but our ultimate goal will never be met, which means that looking at the big picture, we’ll actually be losing more lives than saving.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that's we've examined Evans' basic presuppositions in writing her article, our next response will engage with her first two arguments.</span></div><div><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #131313; font-family: &quot;arial&quot;;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">[1] </span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Post hoc ergo propter hoc</span><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot;; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” is Latin for “after this, therefore because of this.” The fallacy is made when you argue a cause and effect relationship between two events without drawing a link between them.</span></div>Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-9898701483882315812016-08-05T10:14:00.002-07:002016-08-05T10:21:44.650-07:00Tales from Q&A: How can you trust me with a child if you can’t trust me with a choice? [Jay Watts]<div class="MsoNormal">“How can you trust me with a child if you can’t trust me with a choice?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This question came from a young woman in Northern California during a Q&amp;A session following my presentation on the Case for Life. The room of nearly 1,000 students stirred and a few oooh’s told me that the audience felt this was a good challenge. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">It isn’t a real challenge at all, but a blank assertion lacking any substance offered in the guise of a question. It is no different than when other people have responded to my talks by saying things like, “Women have a right to choose!” As Greg Koukl points out, if anyone said something like “Women have a right to take!” the immediate response would be to ask, “Take what?” The same response is appropriate for those making these sweeping assertions. “Choose what?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">My job was to help the questioner see the mistake that she made without embarrassing her or bullying her from the stage. Here is how I answered:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">“I respect your freedom to make all sorts of choices. Where you choose to live, what you choose to study in school, and what clothing you choose to wear. But let me ask you a question. Do you think that you ought to be allowed to walk across the room, seize any item from one of your fellow students in this section over here, and keep whatever you take as your own without permission or consent from the previous owner?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">She immediately objected, “That isn’t the same thing!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">“I didn’t say it was. I concede that it isn’t. The question still remains, should you be allowed to make that choice?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Again, immediately she responded, “Of course not.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I asked her another question. “Why?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">“Because that would be stealing.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Here I asked for further clarification. “So. Why should that stop you? You may choose to steal. Why shouldn’t I trust you with that choice?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">She answered, “Because stealing is wrong.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">“I agree. Would it be safe to say that we both characterize stealing as immoral?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">She nodded, “Yes.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">“Okay. We have reached a good place of agreement here. We both agree that you ought to be free to make certain choices in your life. We both also agree that there are other choices that are immoral by their nature, like stealing, that you should not be free to choose. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">You asked me a question, how can I trust you with a child if I can’t trust you with a choice? My response is that you never addressed the nature of my objection. I have no interest in limiting your morally legitimate choices. I just argued for an hour that that intentionally destroying the life of an innocent human being for elective reasons or reasons of convenience is immoral. I also argued using science and philosophy that the unborn belong in the family of intrinsically valuable human beings. (see Scott's Case for Life page <a href="http://www.caseforlife.com/">here</a>) If those arguments hold up to scrutiny then abortion would fall into the same category as stealing from your classmate. It would fall into the category of actions that we both agree ought to be restricted. My objections to abortion have nothing to do with any evaluation about whether you can be trusted. It has to do with an evaluation of the nature of the act of abortion. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">You are now free to address my arguments about the nature of unborn human life and our moral duties and obligations to them. I would suggest that your best resource in this endeavor would be David Boonin’s book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Defense-Abortion-Cambridge-Studies-Philosophy/dp/0521520355/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1470417107&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=a+defense+of+abortion">A Defense of Abortion</a></i>. I think he makes as good a case as possible for people that wish to defend the right to an abortion, though I obviously feel his arguments are ultimately less than convincing. Francis Beckwith and Christopher Kaczor have provided strong rebuttals to Boonin that I find convincing (see <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Defending-Life-Against-Abortion-Choice/dp/0521691354/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1470417197&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=defending+life">here</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Abortion-Question-Routledge-Bioethics/dp/B00QMIEDMU/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1470417157&amp;sr=8-1-spell&amp;keywords=the+ethics+of+abortio#nav-subnav">here</a>), but you should read them for yourself and make your own determination. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>589</o:Words> <o:Characters>3358</o:Characters> <o:Company>LTI - Life Training Institute</o:Company> <o:Lines>27</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>7</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>3940</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> 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font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal">What you and I cannot do is offer assertions without content. We both have to resist the urge to shout slogans and respect each other enough to learn to engage against the best arguments available. This issue is too important to be so casually dismissed.”<o:p></o:p></div>Jay Wattshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11298001988620531769noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-36332094230603214332016-06-12T19:56:00.000-07:002016-07-19T16:08:54.891-07:00Using a Tragedy for Your Agenda [Clinton Wilcox]<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting/index.html" target="_blank">Early this morning</a>, tragedy struck Orlando, Florida when a man, Omar Mateen, walked into a gay club in the city and opened fire. He killed 50 people and wounded at least 53, and after a three-hour standoff, police burst into the building and killed the gunman. Of course, there is much speculation about his motives. It's not my intention here to guess at what his motivations actually were. While many were quick to sympathize with those killed and urged us to mourn with them, many also took to social media to support their own pet agenda. One such tweet follows:<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ADYWzbT9OU4/V14YPM7e5xI/AAAAAAAAAXk/nRZC8TIZePc4iq2yrM49sr7dw3pFscwhwCLcB/s1600/Messing%2BPicture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ADYWzbT9OU4/V14YPM7e5xI/AAAAAAAAAXk/nRZC8TIZePc4iq2yrM49sr7dw3pFscwhwCLcB/s320/Messing%2BPicture.jpg" width="320" />&nbsp;</a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ADYWzbT9OU4/V14YPM7e5xI/AAAAAAAAAXk/nRZC8TIZePc4iq2yrM49sr7dw3pFscwhwCLcB/s1600/Messing%2BPicture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This gentleman took to twitter to compare the need for gun control to the need for abortion regulations. Of course the comparison doesn't make any sense, but it didn't stop him (and many others) from predictably arguing, following a shooting, that we need stricter gun control. Let's take a look at his claims.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion..."</div><br />There's a very important difference between owning guns and abortion. The right to own and bear arms is a right that is specifically spelled out and guaranteed by our Constitution, ever since its inception. The text of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" target="_blank">Second Amendment</a> reads as follows: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." To <a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/infringe" target="_blank">infringe</a> means to "Act so as to limit or undermine (something)". To institute these things (mandatory waiting period, doctor's note, etc.) would be clearly infringing upon the right to keep and bear arms. However, the "right" to an abortion is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. In fact, it was a "right" invented in 1973 by the Supreme Court. Killing an innocent human being is not a natural right, and our Founders knew that.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"It makes more sense to do this with young men and guns than with women and health care, right?"</div><br />Here Nev begs the question by assuming that abortion is health care. But if pregnancy is not a disease, then abortion is not healthcare. It makes sense to do this with abortion because, the immorality of the act aside, many women and young girls who abort do so out of panic, fear, and frustration. These limitations are put in place to allow these girls/women to have adequate time to calm down and make sure they're in a more rational frame of mind to make a decision about what they think they want.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"...no woman getting an abortion has killed a room full of people in seconds, right?"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Well, more than 50 million women have killed their children in a manner of minutes in these abortion clinics.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Comparing gun control to abortion is simply a false analogy. If you institute gun control, the only people who win are the criminals, who will still be able to acquire guns. They will have an easier time because law-abiding citizens will be unable to protect themselves. Comparing gun control with abortion regulations is nothing more than exploiting a tragedy for your own agenda.</div>Clinton Wilcoxhttps://plus.google.com/103864002017163231104noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-24081310782411795482016-06-06T16:31:00.001-07:002016-06-18T23:52:10.304-07:00Is God Pro-Abortion? 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QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} </style><![endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Receiving your news and information from late night television, comedy shows, or internet political commentary can often leave you misinformed, especially when hosts address topics in which they have no expertise. Such is the case in this video where Cenk Uyg<span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">u</span>r of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Young Turks</i> offers his thoughts on the Bible and abortion and attempts to make the case that God is pro-abortion:</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P-2G5O-ldKI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P-2G5O-ldKI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">How should Christian pro-life advocates respond? Cenk needs to be corrected on several points.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">First, Cenk begins by writing off the scientific evidence that a genetically distinct, living, and whole human being comes into existence at conception. The question of “when life begins” has been settled for decades thanks to the science of embryology. To quote just a few experts in the field,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Human life begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoo developmentn) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual. (and) A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo).”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Although life is a continuous process, fertilization… is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed when the chromosomes of the male and female pronuclei blend in the oocyte.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The development of a human being begins with fertilization, a process by which two highly specialized cells, the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female, unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">You can read 40 similar quotes from medical experts in <a href="http://liveactionnews.org/40-quotes-from-medical-experts-that-prove-human-life-begins-at-conception/" target="_blank">this article</a><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"> w<span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">ho reach the same conclusion.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Despite the evidence, Cenk says the view that life begins at conception is based solely on religion. Why? Because this allows him to dismiss the view as “religious” which further justifies his refusal and inability to interact with the evidence. Not only is this wrong, but it is intellectually lazy. Secular pro-life advocates use the same evidence and argumentation in making a case for the pro-life view, and their analysis certainly cannot be labeled “religious.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Second, moving from science to the biblical text, there is no indication in this passage that the woman is pregnant. This test of faithfulness is a general test applied when a husband suspects his wife has been unfaithful, with no mention of pregnancy being made. In fact the passage specifically says that the husband has a mere suspicion with no evidence or witnesses, seemingly ruling out a visible, noticeable pregnancy:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">If a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act (v. 13).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Again, there are no witnesses to testify against this woman, the act of adultery was hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she has remained undetected. Pregnancy from adultery would not go unnoticed or undetected, and so pregnancy resulting from this act seems to be precluded in this scenario.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">One could respond to this by saying that perhaps the passage is referring to future pregnancies of the unfaithful woman that will ultimately result in miscarriage. This brings us to our next point.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Third, Cenk Uyg<span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">u</span>r quotes from a very specific Bible translation. Why? Because this is the only translation that uses the word “miscarry” when interpreting this passage. In other words, this translation fits his narrative. He quotes from the 2011 NIV translation which uses the word “miscarry” twice in Numbers 5 verses 21 and 27:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the L<span class="yhwh"><span id="yui-gen86">ORD</span></span> cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. (v. 21)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. (v. 27)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Interestingly, not even the 1984 NIV translation translates the verse this way. This seems to be a change made specifically in the 2011 edition. Every other reliable translation I examined including the NASB, KJV, NKJV, HCSB, RSV and ESV, all translate the verse similar to this:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the L<span class="yhwh">ORD</span> make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the L<span class="yhwh">ORD</span> makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. (v. 21 ESV)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. (v. 27 ESV)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">The more literal interpretation for the phrase in question is “your thigh fall away.” So is the translation “your womb miscarry” an accurate interpretation for “your thigh fall away”? This brings us to our next point.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fourth, looking at the context of the passage, a strong case can be made that miscarriage is not in view but rather <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">barrenness</i>or the inability to have children (sterility). Notice there is a contrast being made in this passage between barrenness and fertility in verses 27 and 28:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">To reiterate, if the woman is guilty of wrongdoing, “her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away” but if she is innocent “she shall be free and shall conceive children.” The opposing consequences based on guilt or innocence make sense if what is being contrasted is sterility with fertility, or the inability and ability to have children. The case becomes stronger when we consider that throughout the Old Testament barrenness is considered a curse (e.g. Gen. 20:17-18; 30:1, 22-23) and children are considered a blessing (Gen. 17:6; 33:5; Ps. 113:9; 127:3-5). The “curse” then that the water brings is the curse of barrenness or sterility which is hermeneutically consistent with the rest of the Old Testament. Roy Gane agrees in his commentary on the book of Numbers. Referring to this passage, he states,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">The former, in which “thigh” apparently connotes reproductive organs (cf. Gen. 24:2, 9), can be taken to imply sterility and may refer to a prolapsed uterus. H.C. Brichto suggests that abdominal swelling indicates a state “known to the layman as ‘false pregnancy.’ This condition…is featured by distended belly, cessation of the menses and incapacity to conceive.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">While scholars have not agreed on the gynecological implications of the Hebrew terminology, they sound painful and clearly cause sterility (contrast 5:28). So the conditional imprecation, to which a suspected woman must assent by saying ’amen, ’amen (5:22), specifies outcomes that any Israelite woman dreads: social stigma, physical suffering, and inability to bear children.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">In summary, Cenk has failed to make his case that God is pro-abortion based on the biblical data. First, there is no indication that the woman in this scenario is pregnant. Second, Cenk must rely on a questionable interpretation of the text in order for his view to hold water. Third, a strong contextual case can be made that sterility or barrenness is being spoken of, not necessarily miscarriage.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, we can ask the question, “So what?” Let us suppose Cenk is correct in his interpretation and that the judgment from God on the adulterous woman is miscarriage. What follows from that? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Does it follow that abortion on demand is morally permissible? No. As Francis Beckwith points out, attempting to argue for abortion on demand due to hard cases or special circumstances “is like trying to argue for the elimination of traffic laws from the fact that one might have to violate some of them in rare circumstances, such as when one’s spouse or child needs to be rushed to the hospital.<span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">"</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Does it follow that elective abortion is permissible in special circumstances such as adultery? No. The fact that God in His judgment takes life doesn’t give human beings the prerogative to do likewise. This is seen throughout both the Old and New Testaments. As Clinton Wilcox states, “Peter pronounced a curse on Ananias and Sapphira because they lied to the Holy Spirit, and God struck them dead. It doesn’t follow that we are justified in killing someone for lying. God is the giver of life, and only he is uniquely qualified to take it.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Does it even follow that God is pro-abortion? No. Again Clinton Wilcox points out that “an abortion really isn’t in view here…children were a blessing to Jewish women. A barren woman was seen as cursed. This curse was not meant to abort a child. Rather, it was meant to show guilt. A woman who had not committed adultery would gladly redeem herself by drinking the water. A woman who had committed adultery would not agree to drinking the water, and therefore guilt could be determined.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i><span style="font-style: normal;">Keith L. Moore</span></i><i>, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, </i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">7th ed., pp. 16, 2.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="font-style: normal;">Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Miller</span></i><i>, Human Embryology and Teratology, </i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">3rd ed., p. 8.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Jan <i><span style="font-style: normal;">Langman</span></i><i>, Medical Embryology. </i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">3rd ed., p. 3.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a>Roy Gane, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The NIV Application Commentary: Leviticus and Numbers</i>, 523-524.</span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a>Beckwith, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Defending Life</i>, 105.</span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a>Clinton Wilcox, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Does the Bible Justify Abortion?</i>, found at <a href="http://christianapologeticsalliance.com/2012/10/30/does-the-bible-justify-abortion/">http://christianapologeticsalliance.com/2012/10/30/does-the-bible-justify-abortion/</a></span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1442827238174603755#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a>Ibid.</span></span></span></span></div></div></div>Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08368231189912740927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-71267531539528514972016-05-31T17:43:00.000-07:002016-05-31T21:01:00.362-07:00Sing It Together Now: "My Booooooody" [Aaron Brake]<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> 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5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;">Joy Behar of <i>Th</i><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"><i>e View</i> recently commented on the issue of abortion:</span></span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oq2kL5Aj0zE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oq2kL5Aj0zE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> 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mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">There are several versions of the “my body, my choice” argument. Behar’s version seems to be the unsophisticated sort so here are a few quick points to keep in mind when responding.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">First, clarify the nature of abortion. Abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being. This definition should be uncontroversial. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Second, focus the debate on the one question that matters: “What is the unborn?” Notice the other host in this video raises the issue of whether or not the father has a say in the<span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;;"> abortion</span>. This doesn’t get to the heart of the matter which is, “What is the unborn?” If the unborn is not a human being, no justification for elective abortion is necessary. If the unborn is a human being, no justification is adequate.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Third, the “my body, my choice” slogan is<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> prima facie</i> false. A woman cannot do whatever she wants with her own body, and neither can a man. There are plenty of laws which restrict our freedom with what we can do with our own bodies (e.g., drug laws, prostitution, public urination, indecent exposure, etc.). More to the point, laws always restrict what we can do with our own bodies when what we are doing brings harm to another individual. This is exactly what is happening in the case of abortion, where the mother’s decision not only brings harm to her unborn but intentionally kills him or her. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fourth, Behar seems to assume there is only one body involved. But it should be obvious there are two: the mother’s and the unborn. While the mother’s body is certainly involved, it is not the mother’s body that is being aborted. After all, the woman survives the abortion (in most cases) while the unborn doesn’t. This is also confirmed by science. The unborn from conception has a totally unique, individual, and separate genetic code. The unborn has a separate central nervous system, may have a different blood type and, in the case of a boy, a different gender. In other words, a pregnant woman does not have four arms, four legs, and two heads. A woman does not transform into a hermaphrodite when pregnant with a boy and then back to a female after birth. There are two bodies involved, not one. So this is not so much about what a woman can do with her own body as it is what she should be permitted to do with the body and life of her unborn.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, present counterexamples where appropriate. Perhaps what Behar means to say is that a woman is sovereign over her own body and, even if the unborn is a human being, the mother still has the right to kill him or her. In this case it may be helpful to provide counterexamples which go against our moral intuitions. For example, if a woman can do whatever she wants with her own body, may she intentionally cause birth defects to her unborn child? May she take the drug thalidomide during pregnancy knowing this could cause her child to be born without arms or legs? Unless they are a moral monster, the answer should be, “No.” But if it is not morally permissible for a woman to intentionally cause birth defects to her unborn child based on the “my body, my choice” position, why is it permissible for the woman to kill her unborn child?&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;">First simplify the debate and then argue. This is the pro-life two-step. </span></div>Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08368231189912740927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-32051033951664735222016-03-23T17:50:00.000-07:002016-03-23T17:50:18.498-07:00Finishing Well: Short Outline on End of Life Issues [SK]Your grandfather is dying of cancer. He’s requested no extraordinary measures to keep him alive a few weeks longer. His physical pain is controlled with morphine, which leaves him minimally conscious. The morphine may even hasten death. Even his feeding tube is a burden to him and only prolongs his suffering.<br /><br />Suppose you have legal authority to make decisions for your grandfather. Should you honor his wish and withhold or withdraw treatment? Is it wrong for his doctor to intentionally help him die to relieve suffering?<br /><br />Let’s begin by defining two key terms. Euthanasia means the physician directly kills the patient, usually with a lethal injection. Physician-assisted suicide means the doctor gives the patient a prescription for lethal drugs, which the patient then takes on his own.<br /><br /><b>Key point (thesis)</b>:<br /><br />It is one thing to withhold treatment that no longer benefits a dying patient; it is quite another to intentionally kill an innocent human being via euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. A review of theology, ethics, and pastoral care explains why.<br /><br /><b>Help from theology</b><br /><br />1. <i>The biblical case against euthanasia and physician assisted suicide is rooted in the Imago Dei.</i> Humans bear the image of God and thus have value (Gen. 1:26-27). Because humans bear the image of God, the shedding of innocent blood—that is, the intentional killing of innocent human beings—is strictly forbidden (Ex. &nbsp;23:7; Prov. 6:16-19; Matt. 5:21). Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide shed innocent blood—that is, intentionally kill innocent human beings. Therefore, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are wrong.<br /><br />2. <i>How and when a person dies is up to God</i> (Eccl. 3:1-12; Heb. 9:27). Death was not part of God’s design but is here due to sin (Rom. 5:12). It is now a normal and natural part of the human race. For the Christian, death is indeed an enemy, but it’s a conquered enemy. The resurrection of Jesus Christ secures a resurrected and perfected body for every believer (1 Cor. 15).<br /><br />3. <i>Because death is a conquered enemy, we must not always resist it</i>. In cases where further treatment is futile or burdensome to the dying patient, death can be welcomed as the doorway to eternity. Earthly life, while good, is not our ultimate good. Eternal fellowship with God is. Allowing natural death to run its course does not violate the sanctity of human life. However, we must never forget that terminally ill patients—like all humans—bear God’s image. Thus, we are never to intentionally kill them via euthanasia or doctor-assisted suicide. We are obligated to always care and never harm.<br /><br /><b>Help from ethics</b><br /><br />1. <i>What do we intend?</i>&nbsp;When treating a dying patient, we must always examine our intent. Are we withdrawing treatment because we intend to kill the patient or because it no longer benefits him? Agneta Sutton makes a great point: A truly medical (as opposed to quality of life) decision to withdraw treatment is based on the belief that the treatment is valueless (futile), not that the patient is so. So, while doctors are indeed qualified to determine if a treatment is futile, they are no more qualified than anyone else to determine that an individual life is futile. In your grandfather’s case, food and water should only be withdrawn in the final stages when they no longer benefit him and will only cause additional suffering. On this understanding, the withdrawing of treatment is not intended to kill, only to avoid prolonged and excessive agony for the patient. True, death will come, but it comes as the result of the illness not my direct action.<br /><br />2. <i>Are we caring or comparing?</i> Gilbert Meilaender puts it well: “The fact that we ought not aim at death for ourselves for another does not mean that we must always do everything possible to oppose it.” Thus, rejecting a treatment that is burdensome is not a refusal of life. But here the physician must be both careful and honest. Instead of asking, “Is the patient’s life a benefit to him?” the physician should inquire “What, if anything, can we do that will benefit the life that he has? Our task, writes Meilaender, “is not to judge the worth of this person’s life relative to other possible or actual lives. Our task is to care for the life he has as best we can.”<br /><br />3. <i>Do we intend death or merely foresee it?</i> Regarding morphine, we must again draw careful distinctions, this time between euthanasia and sufficient pain relief to dying patients. Put differently, Meilaender says we must distinguish between an act’s aim (intent) and its foreseen results. A patient in the final stages of terminal cancer may request increasingly large doses of morphine to control pain even though the increase might (though not necessarily) hasten death. In this particular case, the intent of the physician is to relieve pain and provide the best care possible given the circumstances. True, he can foresee a possible result—death may come slightly sooner—but he does not intend that. He simply intends to relieve pain and make the patient as comfortable as possible. Thus, instead of intentionally killing the patient with a heavy overdose, he provides a carefully calibrated increase in morphine aimed at controlling pain, not bringing about a quicker death. As Rae points out, “it’s acceptable for dying patients to sleep before they die.” Though death is foreseen, it is not intended. In the end, the patient dies from his underlying illness, not because the doctor intentionally kills him.<br /><br />To sum up, treatment can be removed when:<br /><br /><ul><li>competent patient requests removal</li><li>futile</li><li>burden outweighs benefit</li></ul><br /><br /><b>Help from pastoral care</b><br /><br />Instead of intentionally killing dying patients, Christians should help them bring closure. They need a “heads-up” that it’s time to say what needs to be said to wrap up. Four key things dying patients need to hear and say frequently:<br /><br /><br /><ul><li>I love you.</li><li>Thank you.</li><li>Forgive me.</li><li>I forgive you.</li></ul><br /><br /><div><div><b>Suggested Reading</b>:</div><div><br /></div><div>1. Scott Rae, <i>Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics</i> (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009)</div><div>2. Agneta Sutton, <i>Christian Bioethics: A Guide for the Perplexed</i> (London: T&amp;T Clark, 2008)</div><div>3. Gilbert Meilaender, <i>Bioethics: A Primer for Christians</i>(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005)</div><div>4. Leon Kass, <i>Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity</i> (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2002)</div><div>5. John Kilner, ed., <i>Why the Church Needs Bioethics</i> (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011)</div><div>6. Christopher Kaczor, <i>A Defense of Dignity: Creating Life, Destroying Life, and Protecting the rights of Conscience</i> (Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, 2013)</div></div><div><br /></div>SKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01905606527143286458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-21124388280615761612016-03-08T06:24:00.001-08:002016-03-08T06:24:13.552-08:00Deal Breaker [James Jenkins]<br />For years we have been hearing variations of “Planned Parenthood performs good services” in response to criticisms the organization traffics in fetal remains, exploits young girls, and skirts the law.Recently, Donald Trump praised Planned Parenthood while claiming the pro-life credentials. But can a true pro-lifer give Planned Parenthood a pass? <br /><br />Trump's praise of PP is deeply flawed. Imagine a young man bringing his fiancé home to meet his parents for the very first time. He is very proud and tells his parents all of the wonderful things about her. She volunteers for two charitable organizations, is a great cook, plays the piano at church, has her degree in nursing and she is just an all - around great catch! But there's one small problem: &nbsp;For 11 days each year (only 3% yearly!), she insists on going to Las Vegas for sexual liaisons with strange men. She has no intention of curtailing these liasons while married. &nbsp;The parents are astonished, not only at the young woman's demands, but their son's defense of her behavior. “BUT SHE DOES SO MANY OTHER WONDERFUL THINGS!"<br /><br />What we have here is a deal killer. No one in his right mind would marry under these terms. Why, then, would anyone with true pro-life credentials tout Planned Parenthood's good deeds when it's bad ones are legion? Providing a free breast exams does not make up for ripping faces off unborn human beings. Good deeds do not atone for bad ones.<br /><br />Trump is ignoring the severity of abortion. Abortion is wrong because it intentionally destroys an innocent human being in the most inhumane way imaginable. Planned Parenthood performs over 300,000 abortions every year. Of course, PP claims only 3% of its activity is abortion-related. Fine. Then stop the 3% and the controversy ends! Planned Parenthood can enjoy near-unlimited funding from Congress. Of course, Planned Parenthood has zero interest in stopping abortion. For Donald Trump to highlight PP's alleged virtues while ignoring its known evil &nbsp;is tantamount to justifying spousal infidelity because you still have a majority interest in your adulterous wife's activity calendar!<br /><br />In short, only by assuming that the unborn are not human can a person justify Planned Parenthood's alleged virtues. Would Trump or anyone else defend an organization which killed 2-year-olds but provided free pap smears to their mothers? Never in a million years--unless, of course, they assume toddlers aren't human!<br /><br />Trump wants it both ways. He wants the pro-life vote, but he wants Planned Parenthood's services. God help us. A nation willing to live with that tension has aborted its conscience as well as its children.<br /><br />SKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01905606527143286458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-34189405444318741552016-03-03T09:44:00.000-08:002016-03-03T09:44:15.413-08:00Untrapped (The California Story) Part 3 [Serge]In <a href="http://lti-blog.blogspot.com/2016/03/untrapped-part-1-serge.html">part one of this series</a>, we challenged the idea that so-called TRAP laws are predominantly responsible for the decrease in abortion providers as argued by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRauXXz6t0Y">this John Oliver video</a> and the upcoming documentary <a href="http://www.trappeddocumentary.com/">Trapped</a>. I used the state of Iowa as an example of a state without any TRAP laws that have lost a number of abortion clinics. One may argue that Iowa is a small state and could very well be an outlier, so today I turn my attention to the largest state and the one that performs the most abortions - California.<br /><br />California is possibly the most abortion friendly state in our nation. They not enacted any TRAP laws, and they have specifically <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB980">passed a law</a> that ensures that surgical abortion clinics would not be held to any building standard that primary care facilities are not held to. In other words, if a building is appropriate for a doctor to check your child for strep throat, it is fine to be used to perform abortions. Basically, it is an anti-TRAP law.<br /><br />Also, California has specifically attempted to increase access to abortion by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/california-abortion-law_n_4074090.html">allowing nurses and PA's </a>to perform abortions. This was branded at the time as a game changer. In fact, this is how <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/california-poised-to-broaden-access-to-abortions">these two laws were described</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;">But California is going in the opposite direction, with two bills that could lead to the <b>one of the biggest expansions of access to abortion</b> in the United States since the FDA approved mifepristone, aka the abortion pill, in 2000.(emphasis mine)</span></blockquote>Here we have the state that performs the <a href="https://top5ofanything.com/list/689d19b0/U.S.-States-with-the-Most-Abortions">greatest number of abortions</a>, specifically enacting laws designed to increase abortion access - even to the point of not requiring a doctor perform surgical abortions. Even our opponents expected the biggest expansion of abortion availability to occur after these change. So what exactly did happen? Has California bucked the trend of abortion facilities closing?<br /><br />The answer is no. According to Bloomberg, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-24/abortion-clinics-are-closing-at-a-record-pace#media-4">over a dozen clinics</a> have closed in California since 2011. If the goal of these laws was increased access to abortion, they have been an abject failure. If one believes that eliminating all TRAP laws will result in an increase in abortion access, all evidence shows that they are simply wrong.<br /><br />I'm not the only one who has seen this trend. Both <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/12/abortion-clinics-rapidly-closing-liberal-states">The Guardian </a>and the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/25/why-americas-abortion-clinics-are-rapidly-closing/">Washington Post </a>among others have reported that the decrease in abortion clinics has also occurred in liberal states as well as conservative ones. Yet this evidence is completely ignored by Oliver's video and most likely will be ignored by the Trapped documentary. If you believe decreased access to abortion is a horrible tragedy, it's easy to attempt to lay the blame on callous pro-life legislation. It's much more difficult to acknowledge that this "problem" is occurring in states that have the most liberal abortion laws. Putting teary eyed abortion workers on camera doesn't change this fact.Serge (Rich Poupard)http://www.blogger.com/profile/06648112986475922045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-73266242744240733422016-03-02T17:40:00.002-08:002016-03-02T17:40:28.121-08:00Untrapped Part 2 [Serge]I wish to respond to some of the more specific points in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRauXXz6t0Y">John Oliver's video</a>, but before I tackle that I wish to make a general point about abortion access in general. There is a general implication that unless there is easy and close access to abortion, then <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/03/01/if-you-cant-exercise-your-right-to-safe-legal-abortion-do-you-have-that-right-at-all/?utm_source=nar.al&amp;utm_medium=urlshortener&amp;utm_campaign=FB">the right to have an abortion itself </a>is threatened. Obviously I deny that this right should exist, but this argument itself is fallacious and it is easy to demonstrate why.<br /><br />Allow me an example. I have a desire to <a href="http://www.trappeddocumentary.com/">see the documentary</a> that Oliver references in his video. Unfortunately, the closest screening to me is about 300 miles away. It would be prohibitively costly both in terms of time and finances for me to view this documentary that I really want to, and in fact have a right to see.<br /><br />Furthermore, what if I contacted my local theatre and asked them to host a screening? They then check into the possibility both report back to me that it would be prohibitively expensive for them to host. They would love to, but the money that they would have to invest in order to show that documentary is not worth it.<br /><br />Would any of these facts change the "right" that I have to see a movie of my choosing? Am I being denied my constitutional rights because someone in Chicago has access to this movie and I do not? How close does the viewing need to be to me before my rights are considered protected?<br /><br />Likewise, even if abortion is not locally available or convenient does not indicate that one's constitutional rights are being fringed upon. Roe v Wade did not guarantee abortion to be a locally available procedure.<br /><br />This is not to argue that all of the so-called TRAP laws are wise in this fight, but the mere fact that abortion may be more difficult to obtain does not an infringement of any supposed rights.Serge (Rich Poupard)http://www.blogger.com/profile/06648112986475922045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-67763982914621236132016-03-01T08:52:00.001-08:002016-03-01T08:52:35.302-08:00Untrapped Part 1 [Serge]I've got to admit that I love John Oliver's stuff. His <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/2/15/10995512/john-oliver-voter-id">video on voter ID law</a>s made me reconsider my position on that issue. So when he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRauXXz6t0Y">took on abortion laws in a recent video</a>, I paid very close attention. He used footage from <a href="http://www.trappeddocumentary.com/">an upcoming documentary "Trapped"</a> to show that efforts from pro-lifers to legislate abortion clinics have made abortion unattainable in many parts of the country. Because of his popularity, I believe it is important to take his argument seriously, and respond to it appropriately. Is the legislative efforts of pro-lifers solely responsible for the significant decrease of abortion doctors and clinics willing to perform this procedure?<br /><br />First, I do believe that I am in a unique position to respond to this argument. In many ways, I share some interesting parallels to an abortion provider. As a board certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon, I own and run an office that routinely provides outpatient surgical procedures under anesthesia. I have full hospital admitting privileges and understand the steps necessary for running a practice based on outpatient surgery.<br /><br />There are many specific claims in Oliver's video that I could respond to, but I wish to start with his general point: that abortion laws have been predominantly responsible for the decrease in providers and clinics that perform abortions. He states that 70 clinics have closed because of TRAP (targeted regulation of abortion providers) laws in 11 states. Just to be clear, I am not in favor of every single TRAP law - in fact I think there have been some significant overreach in many of these laws. However, is it true that this legislation is primarily responsible for the closures of these clinics? There is an easy way to find out.<br /><br />Let's take a look at a specific state: Iowa. Iowa is unique for a number of different reasons. First, <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_TRAP.pdf">according to Guttmacher</a>, there are no TRAP laws that have been passed in Iowa. Second, in order to increase access to abortion, Iowa is the center of a program to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/iowa-study-shows-telemedicine-abortion-safe-women-access/story?id=14166312">provide telemed medical abortions</a> throughout the state. This ability was challenged by the Iowa Board of Medicine, but last summer this decision <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/20/us/iowa-court-ruling-says-doctors-can-prescribe-abortion-drugs-by-video.html?_r=0">was overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court</a>. In other words, a woman can get a medical abortion through Skype throughout the state since 2008 without an actual physical exam. Third, every abortion clinic in Iowa is run by Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider and advocate for increased access to abortion. It seems that Iowa would basically be the shining star of abortion access and a model for other states to follow.<br /><br />Running an abortion clinic would be so much easier in a state like Iowa with no restrictions and access to additional means of income by providing telemed abortions to rural areas. They are run by the largest advocate of abortion access. So how many new abortion clinics have popped up in Iowa since 2011?<br /><br />Actually, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-24/abortion-clinics-are-closing-at-a-record-pace#media-4">14 clinics</a> that performed abortion <b>have closed</b> in that time. No TRAP laws. Increased access to medical abortions. <b>Yet 14 clinics closed</b>.<br /><br />Putting that into perspective, Texas has over eight times the population than Iowa. If abortion clinics closed in Texas at the same rate as Iowa, 112 would have been closed in Texas during the same time period. Clearly there is something else besides TRAP laws that have caused the closing of so many abortion clinics. The "decreased access to abortion care" cannot be blamed on TRAP laws alone, and in the case of Iowa, cannot be blamed on them at all.<br /><br />I may go into detail in a future post, but there are many reasons why abortion clinics are closing. All of medicine is being effected by increased consolidation. There appears to be less demand for abortion services. For a variety of reasons there are less doctors willing to perform abortions. All of these are factors that effect the ability for women to obtain an abortion, and <b>not one</b> was mentioned in Oliver's video.<br /><br />Lastly, one of the more powerful portions of the video showed a clinic worker describing the plight of a poor woman unable to obtain an abortion without traveling a significant distance. Since she could not find an abortion provider in her town, she was asking how she could perform her abortion at home. The camera showed a teary eyed clinic worker recounting this story. The implication is that TRAP laws placed this poor woman in this precarious position.<br /><br />However, <a href="http://www.thonline.com/news/breaking/article_7d5a0aa2-c45c-11e5-a901-6ffbf8e1ec25.html">here's a story</a> about the latest abortion clinic to close in Dubuque, Iowa. This clinic offered both surgical and medical abortions, and is now being closed. Women who were served by this clinic will now have to drive 70 miles to Cedar Rapids for abortion services. According to a past board member:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0036px; line-height: 15.0045px;">They would have to travel,” Straley said. “For some people, that’s a deal-breaker … Often the people who need that service the most are people who do not have money for transportation for someplace that is 70 or 100 miles away.”</span></blockquote><br />In other words, a state with zero TRAP laws, regulations specifically designed to increase abortion access, and an abortion industry fully controlled by the tax payer funded Planned Parenthood also has the problem of providing abortion care to poor women who "need" it. Repealing every single TRAP law will do nothing to help this woman's story if she were in Iowa. Blaming this situation fully on legislation brought about by pro-lifers is disingenuous and simplistic. There is far more going on here.Serge (Rich Poupard)http://www.blogger.com/profile/06648112986475922045noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1442827238174603755.post-89470888712333364482016-01-18T05:39:00.005-08:002016-01-18T10:04:50.090-08:00Should Christians be Involved in Social Issues? [James Jenkins]As we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, I am reminded of the importance of people of faith exercising their civic duty to ensure equal rights for everyone in America. Those today who misconstrue the separation of church and state have silenced many people of faith. People of faith have even silenced themselves by stating that their faith is something private and separate from their public life. In 2012, Vice President Joe Biden said “….I accept my church's position that life begins at conception. That's the church's judgment. I accept it in my personal life. But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews and--I just refuse to impose that on others..” &nbsp; Can you do such a thing while calling your faith a true faith? If something is true, it’s true for everyone. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that “all men were created equal” was not just true for whites. He saw that this was not a reality and changed it. He was a man of faith first and foremost and he got involved. As I speak with people today, I have been targeted several times to be silent because I, like Martin Luther King Jr., am a Christian. Should I have no opinion on moral issues today because of my faith? I contend that if I don’t, then neither did MLK.<br /><br />Should Christians be silent on abortion? Depends. Depends on what? It depends on whether or not the unborn are human. If the unborn are not human, abortion is not a moral issue. But, if the unborn are human, abortion is the greatest holocaust in American history. Our vice president’s church aligns with the science of embryology which says life begins at conception. Joe Biden didn't evolve from an embryo. Joe Biden once was an embryo. Sure, Joe the embryo was smaller and less developed than Joe the adult, but that didn't change his essential nature. He was one of us!<br /><br />Suppose two-year olds were being killed at the same rate as unborn children. Would anyone with a functioning conscience suggest anything other than our full involvement ending that evil practice? If the unborn are human, and we know they are, why should our response be any different? Since abortion was legalized in 1973, we're at 56 million lives and counting. This is a battle where no Christian gets a pass due to "fetus fatigue."<br /><br />James 4:17 tells us that “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them”. I don’t know of anywhere in scripture where someone was blessed or exalted for being silent in the face of evil. On the contrary, those who boldly stood up in the face of evil are exalted. Abortion takes the life of an innocent human being in the most inhumane way and is therefore evil. Children are dismembered, crushed, or poisoned.<br /><br />The theology in play here is not difficult. According to Genesis 1:27, all humans have value because they bear God's image. Because humans bear God's image, the shedding on innocent blood is strictly forbidden (Ex. 23:7). Unborn humans bear the impress of their Maker and He hates the shedding of their innocent blood (Prov. 6:17). <br /><br />If injustice to blacks 60 years ago cried out for justice, then so does the abortion holocaust and arguably even more so. Christians should be doing everything they can to peacefully, gracefully, and lovingly limit the evil done. This involves in making good arguments to convince others as well as doing what Martin Luther King Jr. did – Get involved in the civic process. The law permits the unjust killing of innocent human beings. Political leaders should not get a pass on that. John the Baptist called them out for evil deeds. So did Jesus. &nbsp;We have a government by and for the people and that includes Christians. So, when someone tells me that religious people should have no say in the abortion debate – or any other moral or social issue–I&nbsp;ask a simple question: Do you mean like&nbsp;Martin Luther King, Jr?SKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01905606527143286458noreply@blogger.com2